Beedon man remembers beloved late wife and active community member in Hungerford and West Berkshire
A local man has broken silence after a period of mourning to share a moving tribute to his late wife, who died last December.
Steve Ives, from Beedon, met his beloved partner, Julia Huntingford, in 1998. The pair never married but she took his name.
Born in Bournemouth on November 14, 1942, Ms Ives enjoyed a long and colourful life. She died at Royal Berkshire Hospital on December 12, 2022, after a short illness.
Her funeral was held at St Nicholas’ Church, Beedon on February 17 and attended by at least 30 people.
The order of service began with music from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, which her father once played in.
“When Julia became noticeably ill last year, she was about 10-and-a-half-stone,” said Mr Ives. “When she died, she was under six.
“It was a pretty sad end for someone who’d given everything she could.”
But her legacy and impact on the local community live on.
Ms Ives actively served for almost 26 years as a parish clerk to five councils in West Berkshire, including Great Shefford, Speen and Hamstead Marshall.
She worked as a bookkeeper and in her free time, she sang in the Chieveley and Hungerford choirs and was club secretary to Hungerford Bowling Club.
When she was 21, Ms Ives and her mother survived the 1963 TSMS Lakonia disaster – not the birthday treat she had hoped for.
The Greek cruise ship caught fire and sank off the coast of Madeira, claiming 128 lives. She and her mother were evacuated to Lisbon.
Ms Ives was also secretary to the Parochial Church Council of Hungerford during the Hungerford Tragedy of 1987.
She helped write letters of condolences to the victims’ families.
When Mr and Ms Ives, both previously married, met in the late 1990s, their union marked a new chapter in both their lives and the couple enjoyed many happy years together.
All her life, Ms Ives struggled with bipolar disorder and manic depression. Her condition cost her jobs and made completing tasks difficult.
But Mr Ives says they only enjoyed happy times together and he still misses her dearly.
