Barnard Castle couple never without each other, even in death (From The Advertiser Series)
Send us your pictures, video, news and views by texting NORTHERN ECHO to 80360 or email us
Barnard Castle couple never without each other, even in death
8:00am Wednesday 14th December 2011 in News
NEVER WITHOUT EACH OTHER: John and Ethel Bainbridge, who died within four days of each other in hospital in Darlington
A DEVOTED couple who were happily married for 61 years – and who hardly spent a moment apart – have died within four days of each other.
John and Ethel Bainbridge knew each other as toddlers in the village of Eggleston, near Barnard Castle.
Mrs Bainbridge died in hospital, in Darlington, on Sunday, December 4, aged 91. Mr Bainbridge, a patient in the same hospital, died on Thursday, aged 89, after being told of his wife’s death.
“Mum joked that she fell in love with the fellow across the field and married him,” said their daughter, Ruth Tallentire. “They were wholly devoted to each other and were seldom apart all their lives.”
She said that her father was already weak when told of his wife’s death, and accepted it quietly as “he knew she was now at peace”.
On Monday, The Northern Echo published a report of another devoted couple from Wingate, County Durham, who died within days of each other after being married for 70 years.
Fred Noble, 96, died on Sunday, December 4, and his wife, Elizabeth, died three days later.
Mr and Mrs Bainbridge were born and raised in Eggleston and both attended the village school and their families were close friends.
Mr Bainbridge lived at the village post office, which was run by his parents, and delivered mail on an 11-mile route.
The couple’s wedding in a local chapel was on a Thursday because it was half day closing at the post office.
Early in married life, they took over a farm in Eggleston from Mrs Bainbridge’s parents, Sidney and Annie Thompson, and ran it until they retired a few years ago.
Mrs Bainbridge qualified as a Methodist preacher at the age of 17 and was presented with a diploma when she completed 70 years of preaching in chapels across Teesdale and Weardale. Mr Bainbridge held several roles in the Methodist Church and was a noted singer.
Friends said it was appropriate that his first solo in a chapel was “If I can help somebody” – because he was always ready to assist anyone in need.
During the Second World War, he served in the local Home Guard, spending many lonely nights in an old horse-drawn caravan high on the moors, watching for enemy aircraft coming over the coast at Hartlepool and Teesside. The moor was eventually set alight by German bombs, and he was in the Home Guard squad which fought the flames.
Mrs Tallentire has received more than 100 messages of sympathy after her parents’ deaths. She said: “It is appropriate that we will celebrate both their lives at the thanksgiving service as they were together for so long.”
June Luckhurst, of Ingleton, said: “Ethel and John were a highlyrespected couple who did a great deal of good throughout their lives.”
There will be a joint funeral service for the couple at Darlington crematorium, on Monday, followed by a thanksgiving service in Eggleston Methodist Church, at 2pm.
