Daphne Inkpen, 84, of Royal Wootton Bassett, was born in Edmonton, Hertfordshire, and was the seventh child in a family of nine.

She was in her teens when she moved to Wootton Bassett, and worked at the Food Office, and later at the Post Office.

Her first husband was Douglas Turner-Wright, a master printer, with whom she had two sons and two daughters. He was some years older than Daphne, and died in 1961, when she was only 33.

Subsequently, as matron at the former Bentham House boys’ boarding school in Purton Stoke, she commuted daily by bicycle.

In 1963 she married Len Inkpen, who took on her ready-made family, and with whom she had another daughter in 1964 and a son in 1965.

They moved to work at Potters Bar, near to her sisters, but returned to Wootton Bassett in 1972.

Mrs Inkpen worked at the dairy, (St Ivel factory) in Station Road, and later was a dinner lady at Wootton Bassett School, for a period, from which many former pupils remember her. She always loved children, and at various periods was a childminder, caring happily for other people’s offspring.

She was devoted to her family, which includes 16 grandchildren and a great grandchild. She loved to make clothes and toys for them.

She also knitted toys which she sent to America for her sister in New York State to sell for church funds.

Gardening and crosswords were her other hobbies, and she enjoyed playing Scrabble.

She was a good cook and liked catering for her family, friends and neighbours.

She was a teetotaller and non-smoker, enjoyed socialising with friends and neighbours and attended various local bingo sessions. For some years she regularly attended Evensong at St Bartholomew’s Church.

Mrs Inkpen appreciated the care and attention she received in hospital, during her final illness and, having never been accustomed to going on holiday, she said it felt like a hotel experience. She never missed an opportunity to make the best of any situation.

Her son Philip Turner-Wright, in a tribute at her funeral in St Bartholomew’s Church, Royal Wootton Bassett, said: “She was not afraid of death and was good- humoured even in her illness.

“She was thankful for her family and her life, and was ready to be reunited with loved ones, especially her mother and her first grandchild, Kerry.”

The family appreciated the support of Cheshire carers and Prospect and Macmillan nurses who enabled Mrs Inkpen to spend her final days at home, with her family around her.

The funeral was conducted by the Rev Jemma Sander-Heys and the service in church was followed by committal at Kingsdown Crematorium.

Memorial donations for Prospect Hospice or Leonard Cheshire Disability may be sent c/o Maslin Funeral Service, 118a High Street, Royal Wootton Bassett SN4 7AU.