THE wife of Sidmouth s former Sid Vale Association president has died at a cancer hospice in Wales. Marjorie Jeary, 86, died last Tuesday in the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth, with her family by her side. She had been unwell before her husband Colin s

THE wife of Sidmouth's former Sid Vale Association president has died at a cancer hospice in Wales.

Marjorie Jeary, 86, died last Tuesday in the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth, with her family by her side. She had been unwell before her husband Colin's death in 2007.

After he died she moved to a residential home in Wales to be nearer her son Stephen and his wife Juliet in Cardiff.

Born in Manchester in 1922, Marjorie joined the ATS as a gunner in around 1940 and spent the war on various heavy Ack Ack gun sites.

"She met dad in 1944 at a dance at the Gravesend Co-op," said Stephen. "Mum was on a gun site defending the docks there and the approaches to London.

"Dad was engaged in Royal Navy preparations for the Normandy Landings."

They were married in 1945 and Stephen was born in 1947. She had two grandsons, Oliver and Peter and a great grandson Keinan.

Following Colin's retirement they moved to Sidmouth in 1984. Marjorie was an active member of SVA and was a WI member for more than 50 years.

She also belonged to Sidmouth Probus and helped voluntarily for various organisations including Sidmouth Hospiscare and Sidmouth Victoria Hospital.

After Colin's death in November 2007, she moved to Cardiff.

Stephen said: "Despite her ill health she spent much time successfully campaigning for ex-service men and women to receive recognition through the UK Armed Forces Veterans' Badge scheme."

He praised staff at the hospice. "The care she received from all the staff was magnificent," said Stephen.

He may join his wife and sons on a planned trek to Mount Sinai in September to try to raise several thousand pounds for the hospice.

A funeral will be held on Monday, March 9 at 10.15am at All Saints Church, Cyncoed, Cardiff.