Mourners have paid tribute to a popular Stafford nurse whose 40-year career saw her treat survivors from Dunkirk.

A service was held for Mary Elkin at Stafford Crematorium yesterday after she died of a heart attack at her home in Burton Manor Road. Mrs Elkin died last Monday and was 88-years-old.

Mrs Elkin nursed at the old Stafford General Infirmary where, under her maiden name of Mary West, she rose to be ward sister on the children’s ward.

She is still fondly remembered by many of the children she cared for. She later trained as a midwife and after marriage and raising her family, she nursed on the fracture ward dealing with the aftermath of road accidents.

Mrs Elkin was born in 1920 in the village of Hill Ridware.

She was the daughter of the village blacksmith, Horace West and his wife Dolly, and lived at Forge Cottage with her younger sisters, Anne and Frances.

Mrs Elkin began her working life as a cook but when the war began, she joined the Nursing Auxiliary Service.

One day, she was playing piano at Sunday school when a bus arrived to take her to the hospital because the survivors of Dunkirk were arriving.

She later married her late husband “Big” Sid Elkin, who worked as a security man at Stafford’s former English Electric site.

The couple enjoyed 50 happy years together until Sid’s death in 2002.

They had two children, Geoff and Jan.

Speaking about his mother’s service as a nurse, Geoff said that his mother’s role as ward sister on the children’s ward was one of the happiest times of her life.

He said: “Her career covered all the changes in healthcare the 20th Century produced but she always saw direct patient care as the primary role of a good nurse, ensuring comfort, cleanliness and a listening and sympathetic ear.”