A CHEERY Ipswich milkman described as a "gentle giant" has died on holiday aged 58 years.Father of one Arthur Mayhew died with the words "I love you" on his lips as his wife sat at his hospital bedside.

A CHEERY Ipswich milkman described as a "gentle giant" has died on holiday aged 58 years.

Father of one Arthur Mayhew died with the words "I love you" on his lips as his wife sat at his hospital bedside.

Wife Margaret, 63, said: "He was the best husband anyone could have and the best father.

"He was very much a people person. When he walked into a room it would light up. He enjoyed his job and everyone loved him."

Mr Mayhew, of Burnham Close, Ipswich, passed away in America, just days before he was due to return home to resume the round he made for the last 12 years.

He was a milkman for the Ipswich and Norwich Co-op for 25 years until his death.

And for more than a decade he served the Rushmere Road, Woodbridge Road, Sidegate Lane, Inverness Road and Humber Doucy Lane areas where he was a popular man, always wearing a smile.

Mr Mayhew went on holiday on October 6 with his wife to Nashville, Tennessee, where his sister-in-law, Beryl Kiefer and her husband, Danny live. He died on October 17 after suffering a heart aneurysm on his way back to Nashville after spending a few days in Memphis.

Mrs Mayhew, who celebrated a birthday two days before her husband died, said: "We were on our way back to Nashville and were just outside Memphis in a camper van when I thought he had gone to sleep.

"I went to wake him and said to my sister 'he is not too well.'

"We pulled over to a garage and called an ambulance, which arrived in three minutes to take him to hospital."

Mr Mayhew was a keen Ipswich Town supporter. He became a steward for Ipswich Town Football Club 12 years ago and in the last five years he was a turnstile operator.

He also played for the Co-op Bowls Club and the Rushmere Indoor Bowls Club.

Mrs Mayhew said: "He was as healthy as could be. He walked 12 miles a day."

She said her kind-hearted husband was popular on the rounds and once even battled to try to save a man's life – giving them emergency resuscitation and dialling an ambulance three years ago.

Mrs Mayhew said: "Nothing was too much trouble for him. The old ladies on his round loved him dearly.

"He was soft hearted. A big bloke but as gentle as could be. If someone had disabilities he would put their milk in the fridge."

He leaves a daughter, Zoe, 36, a Lowestoft policewoman, who said: "He had big hands and his hands were as big as his heart. He would do anything for anybody."

Details of his funeral are yet to be made.