A COUPLE who were married for 63 years and rarely spent a day apart have died within 25 days of each other.Bill and Maud Goodson were teenage sweethearts who married at Lavenham Chapel when she was 22 years old and he was 24.

A COUPLE who were married for 63 years and rarely spent a day apart have died within 25 days of each other.

Bill and Maud Goodson were teenage sweethearts who married at Lavenham Chapel when she was 22 years old and he was 24.

The couple married in 1940 and worked in farming all their married lives at Rattlesden, near Stowmarket. Mr Goodson entered the Home Guard during the war and the couple raised four children.

They celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary and laughed when couples said they never had a cross word in newspaper anniversary articles.

Like all couples they had cross words but were devoted to each other. The family believe this was borne out by how quickly 86-year-old Mrs Goodson died at Ipswich Hospital after losing her husband Bill, 88.

Mr Goodson died on January 28, his wife on February 22.

One of the couple's daughters Ann Cook, from Thorpe-le-Soken, said: "They were just meant to be together, that was proved by how quickly they went. "They would have cross words, but it never lasted. We were all shocked how quickly she went, when they died they had never been apart."

Daughter Hazel Ransome, from Rattlesden, said: "They were very family orientated, salt of the earth people. They were very traditional, believed in family values. We loved them both a lot.

"They were always there for us through the years, they were a very hospitable couple, very family orientated."

The couple ran a 50acre arable farm at Rattlesden with pigs and chickens. They were well known locally for selling eggs at the door of their farmhouse.

Daughter Jane Rayson, from Stowmarket, said: "They were never, never apart and lived at home until the end."

The Goodsons leave four children, three daughters and a son, 11 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

The Goodson family have five generations of farmers to their credit, through to the late Mr Goodson's grandson Jeffrey Goodson who continues to run the farm at Rattlesden today.