JAN Stone, former Wheatley Primary school governor and cancer campaigner, has passed away aged 61.

Mrs Stone, nee Emerson, wife of Oxford Mail columnist Clive Stone, died at Michael Sobell House earlier this month after a two-year fight against breast cancer.

Born in Cheltenham in 1950, to Edna and Bill Emerson, Mrs Stone was educated locally before starting work at Lloyds Bank at Montpellier in Cheltenham.

It was here, in 1967, that she met her future husband Clive, and the couple married four years later in 1971 at St Marks’ Church in West Cheltenham.

They moved to Oxfordshire in 1989, where they lived in Wheatley, where Mrs Stone took the position of governor of Wheatley Primary School. They later moved to Freeland, near Witney and then Eynsham.

Mrs Stone, a talented dress maker and upholsterer in her spare time, left the bank when she married to have children Andrew, now 34, and Kate, 31.

She later worked for Cancer Research UK as a charities administrator, and was tireless in her support of Mr Stone’s work with the Friends of Renal Oncology Group (FROG).

Mr Stone was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007 and has since fought successfully to make the kidney cancer drug Sunitinib available on the NHS.

The family said they would remember Mrs Stone as a wife and mother and as a kind, caring, but private woman.

But Mr Stone said he will also remember his wife’s ‘feisty’ side, and recalls one incident where she was witnessing a fight.

He said: “It was while we lived in Wheatley and she saw someone over the road being set upon by another lad.

“She had been sweeping the garden and had a brush in her hand.

“Jan walked straight across the road and started shouting at this guy to leave him alone and he backed down immediately.

“The other lad brought flowers around for her the next day.

“That was just what she was like. She was always helping people, and like me, hated injustice.”

A private cremation service for Mrs Stone will be held tomorrow followed by a Celebration of her life at St Leonard’s Church, Eynsham, at noon.

The family have asked for donations instead of flowers to Sobell House Hospice Charity c/o Jerrams Brothers Funeral Directors, Woodstock (01993) 811491.

Mr Stone added: “Jan didn’t like a fuss, she liked simple things in life.

“Most of all she will be remembered as a loving, kind, caring and considerate person, mother and wife.”