TEARFUL tributes were today paid to a loving family woman who friends say lived for her four sons.

TEARFUL tributes were today paid to a loving family woman who “lived for her four sons”.

Tina Constable was just 44 years old when she lost her battle with breast cancer, devastating her close-knit family.

Speaking during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, her husband, Robin, told how she had brought joy to the lives of everyone she knew, especially the youngsters at Ravenswood Primary School where she worked as a specialist teaching assistant.

Mr Constable, 47, said: “She kept fighting until the end because she wanted to stay for the boys.

“And she was always looking forward to Christmas, she loved that time of year. It won't be the same without her.

“She always put herself out for others and liked making other people happy.”

One of Mrs Constable's sons, 24-year-old Jamie, explained how he could still feel the memory of his mum in her Nacton Road home in Ipswich.

He said: “She would always welcome everyone round and make it feel like their home too.

“We still have all the boxes of the pencils she collected. She would always make people bring back pencils from wherever they travelled and she just kept them without using them.”

Mrs Constable, who had three other sons, Wayne, 21, Daniel, 19, and Adam, 18, developed breast cancer in May 2005 and finished her original course of treatment in December 2005.

But in April the cancer returned and had spread to her lung and liver, and she was warned to prepare herself for the worst.

She spent some time at Ipswich's St Elizabeth Hospice before dying at home on September 24.

Her sister, Tracey Mitchell, 41, said: “She was a loving family woman, a great sister, and she lived for her four sons.

“Next year she would have celebrated her 25th wedding anniversary with Robin.”

And everyone from Ravenswood Primary School was also full of praise for the young-at-heart Mrs Constable.

Marilyn Such, the school's headteacher, said: “She always had time for a joke and was really good at looking at the optimistic side of life.

“If she had a bad day she would say 'tomorrow is another day'.

“When we heard the news we held an assembly in school where I told the children. It was a very sad day and we had a lot of tears.

“We are holding a celebration of her life on October 13 and inviting anyone who knew her to come along. It will be a time for the children and the staff to remember Tina.”

Weblink: www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk