Gayna Jacqueline Cousins died on July 7, aged 70, at Blenheim House Nursing Home, Melksham.

Known as Gay, she was born Gayna Jefferies on June 29, 1944, at Corsham Maternity Hospital, the daughter of Freda Mary Jefferies and Herbert Henry Jefferies.

She grew up in the family’s smallholding, Chapel Lane, Neston and attended the local school where she enjoyed sports and became an aspiring cross country runner.

She went to work for Boots the Chemist but then changed career to become a PA at the Admiralty in Neston.

She married Gilbert Cousins in 1964 and they lived in Melksham and later at Littleworth Lane, Whitley.

She left the Admiralty in the late 1960s to bring up her two daughters, but later went on to be the national area manager for Avon Cosmetics.

After her divorce in the late 1970s she returned to Neston where she ran and lived in the former Neston Shop and Post Office. In the 1980s she moved to Pitts Farmhouse.

She became a detention officer for Wiltshire Constabulary but left in 1995, and for a time she ran her own business, Camelot Catering.

In March 2014 she was diagnosed with a brain tumour and was admitted to Blenheim House in June.

She leaves a brother Ivan Jefferies, who lives in Canada, and a youngster sister Lynn Jennifer Jefferies, who lives in Spain, her daughters Jacqueline and Suzanne and two grandsons.

Her funeral was held on July 16 at St Philip and St James Church, Neston.

Donations in her memory will go to Blenheim House.