FELIXSTOWE: Young mums have been queuing up to pay their tributes to a midwife who tragically died after collapsing in a stable.

Louise Smith was just 52 when she suffered a heart attack while tending to her horses at Great Street Farm, High Road, Trimley St Mary, on Sunday, December 19.

Paramedics stayed with the mother-of-three and grandmother to three granddaughters for nearly an hour and managed to revive her, but she sadly died in hospital a short while later.

Since then a number of mums have whom Ms Smith, a community midwife, helped through their pregnancies have come forward to pay tribute to her. Kelly Patterson, originally of New Road, Trimley St Mary, but who now lives in Kesgrave, said: “She was the one who detected that my son wasn’t very well before he was born six weeks prematurely.

“She came round just before my mum and I were going out shopping. She listened to the heartbeat and said she didn’t like the sound of it, and I was rushed off to hospital.

“We were very thankful that she spotted that. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have probably ended up giving birth at home six weeks prematurely.”

The 25-year-old added: “She was very much your friend, and she was there for you first and foremost putting you at ease.

“She was actually my cousin’s midwife at the same time and we used to combine our appointments, and both of us said she was the best midwife you could have.”

Meanwhile mum-of-two Alisha McAlpine had Ms Smith as her midwife for both of her pregnancies.

Mrs McAlpine, 20, of Undercliff Road West, said: “She was a brilliant midwife and I will miss her so much. She was really attentive and she listened to anything I had to say. I could talk to her like she was a friend.”

Comments have also poured into the Evening Star website from mums who remember Ms Smith as their midwife many years ago.

Rachel Gouldby of Martlesham said: “She was my pillar of strength during both my births and shared some of the most intimate and special moments I’ve ever experienced.

“She will be sadly missed by all the hearts she touched. A very special lady.”

n Ms Smith’s funeral will be at Seven Hills Crematorium on Friday, January 7, at 10.30am. The family has requested no flowers, with donations to Cancer Research instead.

n Do you want to pay tribute to Ms Smith? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.