A COUPLE who were so in love they couldn't bear to be apart died within 16 hours of each other.

A COUPLE who were so in love they couldn't bear to be apart died within 16 hours of each other.

Cynthia Davies died on March 4, aged 83, and husband, Glyn, 88, died on March 20, in what a church minister described as “a beautiful end to a real love story”.

The pair, who lived in different parts of Africa while Glyn worked in the colonial service, were inseparable throughout their married life and were bounded by their Unitarian beliefs.

They married in 1951 and shortly after were sent off to Northern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.

They eventually moved to Witham in 1966 and retired in the seaside town of Frinton in 1980, where they began their long relationship with the Suffolk Unitarian Church in Ipswich.

Clifford Reed, minister of the church, based in Friars Street, said: “They were very prominent members of our congregation and although they lived in Frinton in their later years they made the drive up every Sunday.

“They were very dedicated members. They were still coming for as long as they could drive.

“Glyn and Cynthia presented us with a flaming chalice, unique to Unitarians, which represents the chalice of the communion and the flame of the spirit.

“It was made by their daughter Bo and her husband Malcolm and was presented to the church back in 1999 on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the meeting house.

“We use it every Sunday so even though they've gone we still have something to remind us of them.”

The couple leave a daughter, Bo, 51, who lives in London, and a son, Richard, 53, who lives in West Bergholt. They also have two grandsons, Michael, 22, and Christopher, 19.

Son Richard said he had begun to make regular trips to the church which was so important to his parents.

He said: “I liked to go to Christmas events as a child but I was never a regular.

“Now I plan to go to the church more often. I think it's perhaps my parents' deaths which have brought spiritual importance into my life.

“They were very close and I just couldn't visualise them apart or being very happy on their own for very long.”

Would you like to pay tribute to the couple? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk