JOYCE Howe, who has died aged 99, was recognised by the Queen for supporting widows across the country and ran the Lamb & Flag pub in the 1960s.

Mrs Howe was made an MBE in 2012 for services to the National Association of Widows, an organisation she joined following the death of her husband Bill – aged 58 – in 1975.

Turning to the association initially for support, feeling she was ‘too young to be a widow’, she eventually joined the committee and became national chairman devoting decades to supporting others.

She travelled the length and breadth of the country setting up new branches.

She ran the Lamb & Flag in St Giles’ at the beginning of the 1960s, a time when it was frequented by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

She also worked for St John’s College as a housekeeper and was in charge of the college bar for 17 years.

Joyce Debenham was born in Leicester on April 12, 1918 to parents Alfred and Frances Debenham.

Her father worked as a dairyman, who worked preparing horses for their rounds pulling the milk floats and then distributing bottles around Leicestershire.

One of nine children, she grew up in Bartholomew Street in the Highfields district of Leicester in the 1920s and 30s.

She went to Mere Road Junior School and then Moat Road School for Girls – both in the city.

She met her future husband, Bill Howe – who was also from Leicester – towards the end of the 1930s and they married on September 3, 1939, the day Britain entered the Second World War.

They had two sons, Philip in 1941 and Richard in 1953.

In 1952 they entered the licensing trade, running two pubs in Leicester before moving to another in Coventry.

They then moved to Oxford to run The Lamb & Flag.

At this time it was frequented by J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S Lewis at the beginning of the 1960s after their writers’ group the Inklings changed its allegiance from the Eagle and Child following its modernisation.

Mrs Howe said the pair had a preference for beef in the rolls and she lovingly prepared for them.

But in 1966 they retired from the pub trade. Mr Howe took a job with British Leyland in Cowley and Mrs Howe went to work for St John’s College.

She was the housekeeper at St Giles’ House and also ran the college bar – until eventually retiring in 1983.

Her life would change, though, in September 1975, when her husband collapsed and died aged 58 in Andorra on the way back from a holiday in Spain.

In the aftermath of his death she was talked into attending a meeting of the newly established Oxford branch of the National Association of Widows.

Her initial reluctance, she said she felt ‘too young to be a widow’, subsided and she would later join the committee and become national chairman of the organisation.

She later told the Oxford Mail it was the ‘best thing’ she ever did.

She set up holidays for widows, launched branches and even travelled to St Petersburg in Russia to support widows there.

In 2012, at the age of 94, she was made an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to the National Association of Widows.

She was nominated by the association and her son Phillip said she was ‘very proud’ of the award.

Living in Adelaide Street, North Oxford, aside from her focus on supporting widows, she enjoyed knitting and was a prolific reader.

She also had a passion for travelling and explored the world.

She died on February 11, just two months short of her 100th birthday.

Predeceased by her husband Bill, she is survived by her two sons, Phillip and Richard, five grandchildren, and nine grandchildren.

Her funeral will take place at St John’s College Chapel in Oxford tomorrow at 11am.