POPULAR pensioner 89-year-old Audrey Humble from Bewick Crescent died peacefully at home after a battle against cancer. Her funeral, held at St Clare’s Church, was packed with mourners who heard Rev. Debbie give a full eulogy of a life well-lived.
Audrey was born in 1926 in Stanley Pit, near Crook, the sixth child of Isaac Pinkney, a coal miner. She would have a further three siblings, two of whom also lived in Newton Aycliffe. Audrey worked as a bus conductress in Weardale where she met her husband, Alec from Wolsingham. The couple, who married in 1948, had two sons, John and Peter.
Audrey was infamous in the town, regularly to be seen riding her bicycle almost to the end of her life. She was a prolific line-dancer, attending weekly sessions held at the British Legion.
For her 80th birthday, she endured a tandem sky-dive and a year later, she was swimming and diving with dolphins. At 83, she was banned from driving after a trial for dangerous driving but 18 months later, she passed another driving test with flying colours and was back on the road.
The former Psychiatric Nursing Sister who worked at Aycliffe Hospital and then in the community, lived her life to the full, including regularly riding pillion on the bike of a Harley Davison motorcycle!
Audrey Humble was selfless, fearless and glamorous to the last and will be sorely missed by her family and many friends. She left four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren as well as her two sons.
