TRIBUTES have been paid to a husband and wife who have ‘come to the end of their 70-year love story’ following their deaths within days of each other.

Ray and Glenda Colegate, from Buckley, were devoted parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who were immensely proud of their big family.

Ray, 94, died at Deeside Community Hospital on August 13 and Glenda, 89, followed on August 17.

Their daughter Gail Shone has paid tribute to them at what she described as “the end of their 70-year love story”, which began when Glenda and Ray first met at a dance at the Albert Hall in Buckley in the late 1940’s.

Their relationship blossomed and Ray would often cycle from Ewloe to see Glenda in Myndd Isa.

They married at Bistre Church in 1952 and spent their early married life in Stanley Road before later moving to Nant Mawr Crescent, in Buckley, in the mid-sixties.

Throughout their happy marriage, the couple built a large family together.

They had two children, Carl and Gail, and welcomed five grandsons, Paul, Ian, David, Danny and Ben. They also had three great-grandsons, Alfie, Archie and Logan and four great-granddaughters, Alisha, Freya, Siena, and Alys.

During the war, Ray served in the Royal Navy as a radio operator. After the war, he worked as a joiner at the wagon works but most of his working life was spent at Shotton Steelworks. Having been made redundant, he went on to work for a contract cleaning company as a service engineer.

Glenda held a number of part-time roles through her life – including a cleaner at Ray’s local pub the White Lion in Buckley and, before retiring, was as a supervisor for a cleaning contractor in British Aerospace.

But Gail said her mother’s main focus in life was always her family – from caring for her mother throughout her life, raising her children, helping out with grandchildren and spending her days with Ray.

Gail told the Leader how her parents would enjoy each other’s company and hadn’t spent a lot of time apart in their 67 years of marriage.

They enjoyed going on family holidays and organising activities with a local pensioners group together as well as going out for scenic drives around Flintshire as Ray was still driving at 93-years-old.

Gail remembers how Ray was always a tinkerer and would take things apart to repair them before getting an ear full off Glenda for having bits everywhere.

In 1993, Glenda and Ray decided to downsize to a pensioner’s bungalow in Stanley Road - where their married life began 67 years earlier.

Gail spoke about how the couple’s health had deteriorated in recent months, with Glenda having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s late last year and Ray suffering a stroke in February.

She said this resulted in both moving between Wrexham Maelor and Deeside Community Hospitals with the occasional day home.

Gail said: “They both fought bravely against infections each one making them frailer until they could fight no longer. The only comforting thought for the family was that Glenda was finally transferred from Wrexham on the 13th and placed alongside Ray in a private room where Ray passed away a few hours later. Glenda fought on but finally passed away on the 17th.”

Their funeral service was held at Flintshire Memorial Park on August 31, where family flowers were accepted and donations made in the couple’s memory to the nursing staff at Deeside Community Hospital’s Gladstone Ward.