Inspirational Felixstowe fundraiser Joan Rich, who raised £35,000 for the NHS during the Covid pandemic, has died aged 103.
On the morning of July 29, 2022, Joan Stella Ingleby Rich died peacefully in her sleep in her home in Felixstowe.
Joan was renowned for setting herself the mammoth challenge of completing 102 laps of Allenby Park by her 102nd birthday in September 2020.
As a former auxiliary nurse at Felixstowe General Hospital, Joan decided she'd like to help out the NHS in its time of need during the coronavirus crisis.
Joan was sent a message of support by Sir Captain Tom Moore whose £32million fundraiser made headlines in 2020 and inspired many similar events.
Accompanied by her daughter Diane, Joan covered a distance of around 35 miles and raised close to £35,000, saying: "I wanted to do my bit for them.
"The only way I can help is by walking, like Sir Tom, I hope it makes a difference."
Joan was born in 1918 in Meriden, West Midlands, in the midst of World War One and the Spanish flu epidemic.
She was the second daughter of Edith and Arthur Ashford and had one brother and four sisters.
Joan lived in Meriden for more than a year before moving to Lowestoft where her grandfather was an optician in the High Street.
Up until the age of 13, Joan also lived in Borehamwood, Herne Bay, Combe Martin, Hadleigh, Sudbury, Felixstowe and Ipswich.
When the family moved to Ipswich, Joan worked on a vegetable stall in the Butter Market, going on to successfully manage the greengrocery department of the Ipswich Co-op until the breakout of World War Two.
Joan took on Ipswich fire-watch shifts as well as her regular work, eventually joined the army and was posted to Nottingham.
Later, as a member of the military police, Joan went to the Middle East where her duties included greeting and helping rehabilitate prisoners of war returning to England from prisoner of war camps.
On June 1, 1946, Joan married Dennis Wilfred Rich in Jerusalem and they had their first child, Jean Bryant, in July the next year.
They returned to live in Felixstowe in 1948 and then moved to Hayes where Joan worked as an auxiliary nurse at Hillingdon hospital.
In 1957, twins David and Diane were born.
The family moved to Slough but, unbeknownst to Joan, her husband defaulted on the mortgage and their house was repossessed.
Struggling, but determined to survive as a single mother, Joan brought her four children to Felixstowe and began work again as an auxiliary nurse at Felixstowe General Hospital.
She rented an upstairs flat for herself and her children, eventually buying her own house where she lived for her remaining 54 years.
Her daughter, Diane Rich, said: "Joan was a true trailblazer for mothers who are forced into being single parents and single survivors."
Remaining family members include her youngest daughter Diane, her eldest daughter Jean Bryant and Joan's three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Sadly, Joan's youngest son David was killed in 1978, aged 21, hitch-hiking to Scotland for a summer job and eight years later her eldest son Douglas ended his own life.
Having worked in a charity shop after retirement and volunteered for Felixstowe's Mencap Club for 25 years, caring for many members in her home to give families respite breaks, Joan was renowned for kindness within the community.
On her 90th birthday, she asked for a strawberry tea in a village hall to raise money for Cancer Research UK and five years later, she completed a 5K charity walk for the same charity.
In 2021, Joan received a Mayor's Award for outstanding community service to the town of Felixstowe.
Diane said: "Joan's dream would be for people to show kindness, however great or small, to someone who needs help or support but isn't expecting it.
"On reaching almost 104 years of age, Joan is testimony to how lives can be turned round by simple kindnesses from others: she received kindness, and she certainly gave it. In her memory please give kindness for Joan."
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