Mrs. Jennie Gates, 208 Wellingborough Road, Rushden, who died at St. Matthew’s Nursing Home, Northampton, on Monday, was buried in Rushden Cemetery yesterday, after a service at Park Road Methodist Church.

Mrs. Gates, who was 85, came to Rushden from Yorkshire when she was eight. In 1895 she married Mr. Herbert S. Gates and for five years they lived in London before returning to Rushden to take over a wholesale fruiterers’ business at the corner of Park Road and Harborough Road. They moved to Wellingborough Road in 1912.

Mrs. Gates joined the choir of the Rushden “Old Top Meeting” when she was eight, and as a young woman sometimes played the pipe organ for services there. She was well known in her younger days as a soprano soloist, and for many years sang in the Park Road Baptist Church choir.

She did a considerable amount of charitable work, particularly for Dr. Barnardo’s Homes and among the sick people in the Wellingborough Road area.

Mr. and Mrs. Gates celebrated their diamond wedding on May 20 last year, and Mrs. Gates’ husband survives her. Also bereaved are a son, Mr. Bert Gates, a daughter, Mrs. Hilda Bugby, and a grandson, Mr. John Gates.