A BELOVED colleague was given a moving send off by members of staff at the Co-op in Okehampton last Tuesday, as they gathered behind the hearse carrying her coffin.

Maria Wonnacott had worked at the Co-op and before that Somerfield, on the same site, for 32 years.

The store was closed for ten minutes on Tuesday morning last week (August 11) as staff gathered outside, carrying flowers, to pay their respects and walk behind the hearse in the car park, before it journeyed on to a family funeral service.

A Co-op floral tribute covered her coffin, which was made specially by a florist in Tavistock at the request of Maria’s family.

Among those paying their respects was store manager Martin Ford.

Co-op home delivery driver Andrew Sweeny, who was close friends with Maria, was also there.

‘Maria was a very well-known lady in Okehampton and in the store,’ he said. ‘She will be greatly missed by all her colleagues. She was diagnosed with cancer about three months ago. It is so sad.’

He added: ‘She worked on in store for the first week after she was told she had cancer. A lot of the girls used to do her shopping when she was ill and take it round. She was a lovely girl, the same age as me, 56.

‘I went up to see Maria about a month ago and said ‘fight it girl’. I have known her since I first moved to Devon when I was 17.’

He said that Maria lived with her mother, for whom she was a long-term carer, and had a little Scottie dog she was fond of, who died a few years ago.

Her job at the store, which was Somerfield and then became the Co-op, was her life.

‘Everybody at the store absolutely loved her, the customers loved her as well,’ said Andrew.

‘All the staff actually closed the store for 10-15 minutes so we could come out and pay our respects when her coffin drew off. A lot of other people from the town came and gathered in the car park as well, and they opened the back of the hearse to allow staff to put their flowers in the hearse.’

A collection for Guide Dogs for the Blind raised £450 in Maria’s memory.

Store manager Martin Ford said: ‘Maria was a well-respected and well-liked colleague. She worked in all departments of the store and mainly worked on the checkouts most recently.

‘Obviously when people came in she knew their families, she had watched people grow up over the years.

‘It was an incredible turnout for her funeral. In the end we raised £450 for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

‘The family asked us to provide flowers to accompany her in the coffin and we asked the question of the florist in Tavistock if they could make the Co-op sign in flowers, and they did. Maria loved working for the business. It was her life.’