Doreen Mary Cornes

“You showed us how to love and smile.”

Doreen passed away in the surrounding of her own home on the 19th July, aged 87 years.

Derek and Doreen were together for seventy years and blessed with sixty-two years of marriage based on love, trust, honesty, respect, laughter and never a cross word – well not a lot and even if there was the occasional tiff, they never let it linger.

Doreen was a good-natured lady with a lovely personality.  Nothing was ever too much trouble, she was kind and incredibly generous with her time and love, a caring soul who gave people faith in human nature.

Doreen has been poorly and immobile for the last three years but remained incredibly sharp and never missed a trick, able to put Derek in his place regardless of being in bed!  And, she has always loved having visitors, an ever-open door with a warm welcome and able to make people feel comfortable in her company.

Having built the foundations of a loving home with strong family values, she and Derek brought up four amazing girls then the icing on the cake was helping to nurture the next two generations.  A cherished mum to Linda, Sandra, Lorraine and Debbie, she was also a much-loved mother-in-law to Dave, Howard and Martin, doting grandma and great grandma.  The youngest, Oliver was born around thirteen weeks ago, and Doreen was delighted to have a cuddle whilst singing to him and making him laugh.  Derek gave him his bottle; both still totally hands on and thoroughly devoted like they have been with all the family over the years.

Doreen was a dear sister to Jean and John, auntie to Wendy and Claire, close to her sister-in-law Edna and her nieces Carol and Sue.

Doreen was outgoing and extremely sociable.  She made friends easily especially in Shavington where she and Derek brought up the girls, particularly Dorothy next door who also had young children.  She was friendly with all her work colleagues when she worked at the Co-op in the village.

Doreen was immensely brave and an inspiration to the girls and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing her.  She suffered with ill health for years, particularly Meniere’s disease which caused unpleasant symptoms like sudden onset of dizziness and sickness, but it never stopped her going out or doing the things she liked.  She enjoyed going out with her friend and neighbour Shirley to line dancing, swimming, shopping and let’s not forget – eating cakes!  Everyone thought they were sisters and Doreen was heartbroken when Shirley died.

She enjoyed going to the over sixties club, going on trips and regularly treating them to some home baking.

Even when Doreen was in a wheelchair just a few years ago, she and Lorraine would go to the nail bar in Nantwich to have the same colour ‘gel nails’ then out for tea and cakes, chips or a big ice cream sundae and she would love sitting in the sunshine in the middle of Nantwich, watching the world go by.

In recent years, Doreen was stone deaf in one ear and had a hearing aid in the other and Derek could hear her conversations in the other room – and very often chipped in!  She used to pull funny faces to make them all laugh!

Doreen was a smart lady, she always liked her hair washed and blow dried, a bit of makeup on, nails neatly manicured and painted, bright pink being her most recent favourite.  She liked to wear jewellery and always told Derek, “Don’t forget my perfume!”

Doreen was welcomed into the world on 22nd May 1935 and lived in Middleton, Manchester until World War Two was declared.  In 1940, her parents decided it would be safer to move to Cheshire, so they lived with and looked after grandad in Haslington.

She remembered very little about her childhood, but she did recall the air raids in Middleton and sleeping in a tin bath under the stairs when the bombs went off in the distance.  The skies lit up and the sirens screeched which caused Doreen to be fearful of thunderstorms because the thunder and lightning reminded her of those awful times.

She also talked about the many friends she made at Haslington school and after leaving at the age of fifteen she worked at County Clothes for two years.  For a further two years, she worked on what she called the ‘Wet Drawers’ in the Ordinance Factory at Radway Green then left to start work at the Co-op.

When she was just seventeen, she met the love of her life Derek whilst they were both out with friends in Crewe Park.  He remembers he really liked her nice nature and they just clicked.  She spent most of her wages on clothes and resembled a model but then again, he was extremely dashing in his suit!  They were a good-looking couple.

Courting for much longer than intended because of Derek’s National Service, they finally married on 9th January 1960 at Haslington Chapel and lived with Derek’s sister for a few months before moving to Flixton Drive.

Linda arrived towards the end of 1960 followed by Sandra and Lorraine and after moving to a new build in Shavington Debbie was born.  Doreen was a devoted mum to them all and treated them as individuals.  They have so many wonderful memories it is impossible to quote them all but here are just a few:

She always bought yards of material to make matching dresses on the old treadle sewing machine each with something a bit different according to what they liked such as frills and decorative trims and rather than buy a pattern, she used a petticoat as a template for the bodice and made the flared skirts.  She would then knit cardigans and jumpers starting with the biggest first and a hat with a hole in for Lorraine’s ponytail.  Debbie had a sort of whisp at the front of her hair so Doreen would make it into a kiss curl, Sandra and Linda had theirs back combed and Lorraine remembers hers was flicked up.

She always made the best of the worst situations like during electricity cuts, she would heat food up on the Parkray open fire and light up the bathroom with candles so they could still enjoy a bath – so much so they looked forward to the cuts!  And the best thing of all, she would play with them for hours.

She adored having grandchildren and great grandchildren and knew all their favourite treats and sweets.

Derek recalls their first holiday was in a small caravan when Linda was just a baby and much to the amazement of the woman in the next caravan, Doreen made sausages and braising steak on the tiny cooker.  They had many happy times in Rhyl, Blackpool, Pontins and Butlins and when the girls got older, Doreen and Derek loved going on coach trips.

They eventually went abroad at least twice a year and Doreen particularly liked the Hotel Santa Lucia on the sea front at Palma Nova.

Derek said they often reminisced about the wonderful holidays they had and the friends they met both trying to remember hotel names and events.

Linda remembers Doreen always cut her own hair and it inspired Linda so much, she thought if mum can, I can and after Linda emigrated to America, she tried to visit home whenever possible and she says she was always delighted when her mum would thoughtfully send photos of Linda’s childhood with cute comments on the back to remind her of home.

Bedridden for the last few years, Doreen was incredibly brave but if ever she was a little down, the family would cheer her up with a tea party and lots of chatter and despite Doreen being in hospital, they celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary on the ward with balloons, flowers, special candles, cake and a buffet.

Doreen was delightful in so many ways, she loved flowers and houseplants and was very knowledgeable with their names.  She was always very house proud, often asking Derek if he had dusted round the house, of course he said yes, to keep her happy but in any case, she couldn’t see it!

She liked to keep maintain her looks and if nothing was on TV, she would have a plucking session.  When visitors were coming, she asked for her makeup bag because she never liked to be seen without her lippy and powder.

She retained her sense of humour and was so very funny!  She got names mixed up like Frankie and Benny’s – “oh you know that fancy place!”

And when she wanted to change the subject, she would say ANYWAY, in other words – I’m not talking about it anymore!  She is and always will be unforgettable.

Her funeral will take place on Tuesday 9th August in the Crematorium Chapel, Crewe at 11.30am.

Please call our funeral home on 01270 584447 for any further information.