UNITED in grief but determined to celebrate the life of an "extraordinary" woman.More than 250 of Santina Capasso's friends and family turned out to bid farewell to the 68-year-old, who died on October 24.

UNITED in grief but determined to celebrate the life of an "extraordinary" woman.

More than 250 of Santina Capasso's friends and family turned out to bid farewell to the 68-year-old, who died on October 24.

As was her wish, her coffin was led through Ipswich town centre by a horse-drawn carriage.

The mother-of-five and grandmother-of-nine had spoken of her funeral wishes during her two-year battle with cancer.

The service was held at St Pancras Roman Catholic Church, in Orwell Place, Ipswich at 1.30pm on Tuesday.

Anna Capasso, 40, one of her daughters, said: "The ceremony was lovely, just as she would've wanted.

"She loved horses and was renowned for her knowledge of them."

Mrs Capasso (nee DeRosa), wife of Antonio, 66, moved from the Italian village of Sparanise to Yorkshire in 1957.

She later said: "I had heard about all these different countries and wanted to see what was out there, make a future for myself and to fall in love."

Two years after she married fellow Italian Antonio, just as she had promised at the tender age of two. He was already living in England.

She had told her children that when Antonio was being born, she cried out from under a balcony 'is it a boy or a girl'. When told a boy had been born, she said: "In that case I shall marry him when I'm older."

In 1959 the couple tied the knot, before spending most of their married life in Ipswich. It was in Colchester Road that the couple's children were brought up.

After Mr Antonio retired from his job as a concrete finisher, the couple moved to Italy before returning to live in Jaguar Close, Ipswich.

Mrs Capasso spent her last days at the St Elizabeth Hospice, in Foxhall Road in the town.

She leaves a husband, five children - Nancy, 43, Connie, 41, Anna, 40, Michele, 37 and Carlo, 34 – and nine grandchildren.