A FORMER Samaritan and charity shop manager who put caring for others at the centre of her life has died, aged 71.

Gillian Worsdell passed away on September 17 after suffering internal complications after a fall.

Mrs Worsdell, nee Woolford, was born in Aldbourne in 1943 and attended the village school before progressing to Marlborough Secondary Modern.

After leaving school, she worked at Ramsbury Building Society as a typist.

Her husband, Ken Worsdell, said the couple met when Gill was aged just 15 and he was 17.

“We met at a local pub in Aldbourne,” he said. “And six weeks after I met her, I proposed to her.

“I talked to her when she was 15 and after a few weeks, I realised I’d never meet anyone like her and that’s why I proposed.”

However, Ken’s proposal was not immediately accepted.

“We got married in 1961, three years later,” he said. “But she didn’t accept straight away, saying ‘I don’t think my mum would approve’.”

The couple went on to have three sons; Nick, now 48, who lives in Virginia, in the US, Edward, 46, who lives in Avening and 42-year-old Matthew, who lives in Swindon.

After the birth of Edward, Gill was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) and was later forced to change her work patterns as a result, working part-time at Evans.

She later worked at the Barnardo’s charity shop in Swindon, rising to the position of manager, before her illness meant she needed to take things easier.

“Gill’s MS became progressively worse and after seven years at Barnardo’s she found she was unable to carry on working,” said Ken, a painter and decorator by trade who later became a manager at factories across the county, as his wife would not leave their home in Arun Road, Hayden Wick.

“Not to be defeated, she joined The Samaritans,” he said. “Being a good listener, this was one thing she she could do, as she could do it sitting down.”

Ken said her work at Barnardo’s and for The Samaritans perfectly ecapsulated his wife and her nature.

“She was the most wonderful woman you could wish for,” he said. “All the good work she did, she would do anyone a good turn.

“Gill will be sadly missed by all her friends.

“They, like me her husband and her three sons, have lost someone who, no matter how much pain she was in, always made time to listen and give advice.”

Before she died, Ken said she spoke to him of her pride for her sons and their achievements, as well as remebering the holidays the couple spent together, from their honeymoon in Jersey, to a tour of Egypt.

“Then she put her arm around (my) neck and said ‘thank you for a wonderful marriage, thank you for three wonderful boys and thank you for looking after me for all these years. I could not have anyone more wonderful to look after and care for me’.

“She then gave (me) four kisses; one for me and one for each of our three boys and her last two words were ‘love you’.”