Moving tributes were paid yesterday (Friday) to Derek Wolfe, Marlborough’s late town clerk who died suddenly last month, at his funeral service held in Axminster Methodist Church, Devon.
The church where he and his widow, Lynette, were married a decade ago, was packed with relatives and friends, together with 16 members and staff of Marlborough town council, headed by the Mayor, Councillor Edwina Fogg.
Mr Wolfe, 58, who only became Marlborough’s town clerk in January, died in the Great Western Hospital, Swindon, from a ruptured aortic aneurysm after waking in pain and calling an ambulance himself.
“Derek’s death has left us all in shock, hardly able to comprehend his absence from us,” the mayor told the congregation.
“I should like to dwell on two aspects of Derek that Lynette shared with me. First, his professionalism: ‘He would have hated the idea that he left any unfinished business on his desk,’ ” she said.
“It was a poignant moment for me when I entered his empty office and saw his tidy and well-ordered papers: there was a sad silence in that room that spoke of our loss. His approach to his multi- faceted tasks was organised and thorough.”
“The second thing that Lynette pointed out was his love of Marlborough –‘He absolutely loved the town and his home here’.”
“Derek rented a house a few minutes from the town council offices and stayed there during the working week, giving him time to join in and support several initiatives in the community, for example, he became a valued director of the Communities Market and an active member of Transition Marlborough.”
She quoted too the tribute paid by Father John Blacker, of St Thomas More, Marlborough, when he said prayers for Derek at the last town council meeting, declaring: “We shall miss a good man and a good town clerk who served the people here in Marlborough so well.”
And she added: “Townsfolk had a great respect for his willingness to help them with their various requests and inquiries — that feeling on their part was expressed in the many messages of condolence we received on his loss.”
“Our office staff remarked on his almost old fashioned gentlemanly manner and observed that he never had a bad word to say about anyone.”
The sermon was given by the Rector, the Rev Brian Hadfield, and there was a poignant address too from his widow.
“She talked about ‘My Derek’ and how special he was to her in what was a very moving and touching tribute,” Val Compton, one of the town councillors present, told Marlborough News Online. “I really take my hat off to her. It was truly amazing, a very fitting tribute.”
The service was followed by cremation at Wimple, near Exeter.
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