Born

Battle of Britain

Robin and Ilione will always have a place in my heart as the wise mentors who directed me in my late 20's navigating through the rocky paths of early adulthood. They encouraged me to lay down my desires and follow the Lord's desires, safe in the knowledge that HE would give back those desires that were of Him. And it has been so true. That advi...more

Life Changes

Applied Micro Labs

McKinsey

I got to know Robin and Ilione at L'Abri Fellowship in 1986 and a great friendship was born. Robin was always so interested in people and spent far more time talking about what I was doing than what he was up to. I was privileged to be invited several times to their family holidays to Swanage, and particularly remember sitting outside late one n...more

I met Robin and Ilione at L'Abri in 1986. Praise God for lives well lived. Rather than spend their latter years on the golf course or in resorts, they were looking to God with an expectation of living for Him and finishing well. They were kind and gracious. They loved Jesus and loved living for Him. They kept up with me through the years as I went ...more

I felt a great sadness and joy seeing those lovely pictures of dear Robin and Ilione. They both bought great joy to many lives, and I especially speak of their time in the pastorate at HTB. Everyone loved seem so much and all looked to them for prayer support and encouragement. They were held in huge respect. Dear Robin, I am sorry I hadn't been ...more

I've known Ilione and Robin since St James the Less in the 1990s. They were great friends, and then supporters of what I've been doing working with Youth with a Mission at The Kings Lodge on the School of Biblical Studies (SBS). I'm so glad they have been a part of my life. I've so enjoyed reading Robin's writings and going over to his house at...more

I, together with my family, had the absolute pleasure in knowing Robin and Ilione for 50 years . Robin actually supplied the references that got me my first job at Purdeys in London, so many years ago. Robin was always enthusiastic, always interested and always happy. They both were remarkable friends to have as a struggling 17 year old alone in ...more

I first met Snookie (Ilione) in South Africa in the forties! We both went to the Island at Great Brak River for the Christmas holidays. Whenever I visited London en route to visit my daughter in Canada, I either stayed a night or two with Robin and Snooks or had a cuppa. RIP my friends you were a very special couple!

Robin, and Ilione too, were an inspiration and encouragement to us, particularly when my mother was unwell. Faithful in prayer and a perfect illustration of how not to give up. Over the years, I valued their kindness and honesty in equal measure.

Never was there a faster friend or a better neighbour than dear Robin. Ann and Neil

Friends and Family, I worked with Robin at McKinsey in Cleveland in the early 1980's, and later, at Lamb Technicon, where he was a consultant and I became an employee. Robin was a smart man. We all knew that. That he was also a spiritual and loving man I was to discover decades later when Ilione died, a few years after my own wife's death. We co...more

What a wonderful man! It was a privilege for Ash and I to know him and Ileone. They were the very first people to contact us when we took a wild and crazy step of faith over 18 years ago. We had not met each other properly at the time, yet they knew of us and had heard how the Lord was leading us. So they called to encourage us and financially be o...more

I first met Robin and Ilione in 1989 at the Hope Christian Counselling Centre in Bath. They struck me as a most gracious couple, totally dedicated to the Lord and each other, with a hunger for a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and a closer relationship with Him. We embarked on a course together which went right through the Bible book by ...more

We worked on Bible translation in Kenya for the Rendille people for 34 years and the work is still continuing. I am unsure how Robin and Illione came to know about us, but they started supporting us many years ago. We are South Africans so it was many years before we met them in person during a visit to the UK. We were so blessed to finally get to ...more

Robin & Ilione were an amazing couple, faithful and loving. Such a blessing. They are missed here on earth.

A life that has finished well

I join many others who've written tributes, who knew Robin and Ilione as prayer supporters and generous financial supporters. My wife Heidi and I got to know Robin and Ilione through L'Abri in the 1980s, which was when their support and encouragement of our work with Wycliffe Bible Translators began. We did not meet that often - every few years o...more

In loving memory of Robin Leaf 1931 - 2016, by Cassandra Hazeley-Wilson Robin and Ilione were givers. It seemed to me that they were of one heart, one mind, one Spirit. They gave of their time, they gave of their wisdom, they gave of their love. They gave of themselves. For a number of years, before Ilione became very ill, they invited me into ...more

... Continued from above... Robin and Ilione were like walking, talking bibles. He shared his wisdom. It was Robin who taught me the difference between a transgression and a sin. A transgression meant that someone owed you a debt. A sin, one forgives. A debt, one cancels. Being so much more erudite than I am, Robin explained it far better than I c...more

Silver Wedding Anniversary

We first met Robin and Ilione when Lisa our youngest daughter and Will became engaged and we liked them instantly. Since then we have enjoyed their company here in our home and in london, and the phone calls and emails on a regular basis. Robin was such a kind , gentle, generous and interesting person, who was so thoughtful and caring about other...more

The Leaf family & Friends, I met Robin when I moved from Cleveland Ohio to Detroit Michigan in the late 1979 to work in the auto industry as an Electronics/ Controls engineer for F.Jos. Lamb. Robin was at that time consulting for this company and I was the first employee to start up the electronics group! Robin from day 1, became my Friend and Ment...more

Robin and Ilione were wonderful to me! They counselled and mentored me and led me through such spiritual healing and growth. They accepted and loved me unconditionally and led me into a much deeper relationship with Jesus. I know they are in great glory now. Thank you so much, Father, for giving them to us all.

Crossroads DTS WYAM Perth

From Dr Lily M Segerman-Peck In memory of Robin and Ilione Leaf When I first moved into Millbank Court, now 14 years ago, I was invited to a meeting of the committee which considered future developments at Millbank Court. Thus I got to know Robin and his wife Ilione. Through their extensive knowledge, including real estate, engineering, legal an...more

My memory of Robin was of a sincere man, a father who took life and his responsibilities seriously, who wanted to do well and for those around him to do well. As I look today at his children, my peers, I can only think that he and Ilione succeeded and must have left the world content. I was lucky to have such good uncle.

From Mary Kenny West Thank you for letting me know about dear Robin's departure. He seemed frail when he attended Dick's funeral last May, and yet, as always, in wonderful spirits. He was one of the most optimistic people I have ever met - always so inspiring - and a great favourite of my late mother-in-late Kitty Leaf West. My sons, Patrick and ...more

Robin was our friend and we will miss him. Barry and Mary

Dear Uncle Robin, how I miss your love and support. You accepted me as I am, with all my faults. You and Ilione listened to my woes, prayed for me and my family and even when you were in pain, you reached out to help me. I will miss your quiet wisdom. With love to you all.

So kind and considerate and always able to be in the present with you Beloved uncle (and aunt!) - special people Will be thinking of you all celebrating a long life well lived And wish I could be there with you love and thoughts from the whole family Much love - Ginia x

From Joyce and James Thompson After hearing the news of his passing an envelope fell out of my drawer which I had forgotten I had and which I had put the notes Ilione used to send me in -usually with reference to some knitting I had done for her but with texts and prayers of encouragement to me. And a diagram of a knitted shawl that Robin drew as ...more

Robin and Ilione are amongst the gentlest souls I have ever met. In the days when I knew them best, while they and I worshipped at St. James the Less they both had a way of coming alongside grumpy recidivists like myself and speaking warmly, lovingly and disarmingly directly to the heart, somehow bypassing the mask I like to wear. It felt like the...more

... continued from Joyce and James Thompson I know some, a few, whose lives are a bold exclamation point! They drive hard in a slashing downstroke toward a distant goal no larger than a dot. Yet somehow they never connect. And I know some, too many, whose searching lives are a question mark. I find them wandering, curving and sloping toward t...more

... Continued from Joyce and James Thompson I had kept it all because it filled me with hope and I saw possibilities in what a marriage could be -especially long term and that families could remain connected. I have no illusion that they were perfect ..but maybe that is what gives me hope! I got a glimpse into family life, second hand through the...more

I did not know Robin very well but mostly via Karen (my daughter and nanny to Rick and Tamsin) and know that he was a kind, gentle man who portrayed the love of Christ wherever he went. I remember a year or so ago, he spoke at Rick's Home Group, which I used to attend and he was so tranquil (if that is the right word) about the facts he spoke with...more

I got to know Robin and Ilione over the years, after caring for Tamsin and Rick's children for about 15 wonderful years. Robin and Ilione were always so loving and kind to me. I was always greeted by a hug and a kiss from them both. Over the years they gave me cards and gifts, always giving me a little passage from the bible to read and by encoura...more

We were neighbours of Robin and Ilione for the six months that we lived in Millbank Court. They made us so welcome that we made a point of calling on them whenever we were in London subsequently. Of course, over a pot of tea, they were interested in our life in the USA and always had kind words to say. When we called again earlier this month, we w...more