School cook who lived her whole life in Northampton passes away after 100 'long and happy years'

Marjorie Wills passed away peacefully on December 29 at a care home in York after 'a long and happy life', a family member said.

The Moulton-born great-grandmother lived in Northampton for 94 years until 2013 before she moved to York to be closer to her daughter.

Her great-granddaughter Jo-Ann Webster said: "Majorie was an inspiration to us all. She was a strong character. she was generous and she worked hard her whole life."

Marjorie - known by many as Marg - was born in Moulton in 1918 and moved to Booth Lane when she was a little girl. She lived in the cottages where Northampton College stands now.

She married her husband, a Northampton firefighter named Vincent, in 1939 and they had their first daughter, Jacqueline, in 1941.

But Vincent was taken captive as a prisoner of war during the Second World War and did not come home until 1945.

Reunited, the family moved into a prefabricated house and Marjorie and Vincent had their second daughter in 1946.

In later life, Marjorie worked in a shoe factory, as a cook at Weston Favell College for 17 years, and as a cashier at the town's Woolworths.

Marjorie and Vincent were able to celebrate their platinum anniversary in 2009. Sadly, her husband of over 70 years died in 2013.

She moved out of the town to be closer to her daughter shortly after Vincent's death, and she now lives in residential care in York.

And in 2018, Marjorie celebrated her 100th birthday with a small party with her two daughters, her granddaughter and three of her five great granddaughters.