Farewell to ‘selfless and remarkable’ Gill

Gill Lubbock died in Sidmouth Victoria Hospital on Sunday, February 7, following a two-and-a-half-year battle with motor neurone disease.

A funeral service was held in a ‘packed’ St Luke’s Church in Newton Poppleford on Saturday, February 20.

Her friend, Sandra Duffin, said that the 81-year-old involved herself in the community of Newton Poppleford, serving on the parish church committee for more than two decades.

Sandra said: “She really was the most remarkable lady. She was just was totally selfless.

“The lovely thing is, for the whole time she was in hospital, there was a rota - we were known as the tag-team.

“There was someone with her 24/seven. She was never left for a moment. They gave us a bed in the room so we could be with her.”

Gill was born in dramatic fashion as her mother, Beryl, went into labour nine weeks early after slipping on ice.

Following her birth on February 2, 1935, in Stourport-on-Severn, baby Gill weighed just four pounds and was not expected to survive.

She grew up and went on to study physiotherapy at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she was introduced to the church.

In 1959, Gill took up a post at Exeter’s Heavitree Hospital, but moved to Sidmouth in the 1960s after her father, Leslie, became terminally ill.

Following her retirement in 1995, Gill became a member of St Luke’s Church and helped to start the village’s Tea and Toast event and shoe-box collection appeal.

Gill, who never married, willingly made tea for the Mums and Toddlers Group and led a number of the church’s home group and prayer meetings.

Sandra said: “She would often arrive at someone’s house with a piece of equipment she felt would help them. If they were unwell she would deliver homemade soup, casseroles or one of her sponge cakes and often take their ironing home.

“Generosity characterised her life - she demonstrated love and care, and for her this was Christianity in action.”