A much-loved school secretary has been remembered fondly by her family and former pupils, parents and staff following her death last week.
Janice Christine Bolton, known to everyone as Christine, was the friendly face that greeted everyone who visited Porthleven School, where she worked up until her retirement in 2014.
Initially joining as a dinner lady, she then moved to the job in reception, where she would always take an interest in the lives of the families at the school and would never forget a face.
Past pupils remember her as making every child feel safe and listened to, describing her as “an absolute gem of a lady” and a “wonderful, sunny woman who touched so many lives.”
Christine was born in Lady Street and Helston, attending Gwealhellis School and taking part in the Flora Dance, then later the Hal an Tow.
When she left school she worked in Newquay for a time as a hotel receptionist, as well as in a similar role in Redruth, before coming back to Helston and working for electrical goods shop Hydravolt.
It was here that she met her husband Ken, while he was stationed with the Royal Navy at RNAS Culdrose.
After they married, in 1972, he was transferred to RNAS Yeovilton for a time, and it was while in Yeovil that their daughter Sarah was born.
They then returned to Cornwall, with Ken going back to Culdrose, and the family moved to Porthleven, where son Michael was subsequently born, in the maternity home in Penzance.
Ken and Christine were married for 51 years, celebrating their golden wedding anniversary last year.
Retirement gave her more time for her passion for crocheting, and their house remains filled with her blankets.
She also enjoyed walking and the couple would regularly be found out with their dogs and going away in their motorhome, as well as spending time with their grandchildren Phoebe, Liam, Daisy and Rosie.
Ken said: “She was a really good wife, a really good mother and a really good grandmother.
“She was very, very generous and would always give that little bit extra. She had that way about her. She would think of things that I would never have thought of.”
Sadly Christine became ill around 15 months ago, eventually being diagnosed with mesothelioma cancer, affecting her lungs, in March this year.
Ken said she “gave it all she could” to get better with treatment, but sadly it was not to be.
She passed away peacefully at Bodmin Community Hospital last Tuesday, September 5, aged 73 years.
Her funeral service will now take place at Treswithian Downs Crematorium, near Camborne, next Wednesday, September 20, at 12 noon.
Donations are being collected in memory of Christine for Young Lives vs Cancer (formerly CLIC) by retiring collection at the service, or sent to the funeral director RE Tonkin & Son of Mullion, whose website also includes an online link for donations via funeral-notices.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here