A VALLEYS woman who was supporting our troops by filling shoe boxes with donations aged 104, has died.
May Townsend, who was living in Blaina's Riverside flats in Church Street, first got involved in helping the troops during the First World War.
Her brother, Jack Morden, was a private in the war and Mrs Townsend helped at Blaina's 'penny fund' shop where people donated 1d a week to get materials to make socks and stockings for the troops.
Mrs Townsend, whose husband Thomas died in 1974, lost her brother and two nephews, Ronald Jelley and Norman Davey, in the First World War.
Still keen to do her bit, she worked alongside residents in the flats to fill shoeboxes with sweets, chocolate, toiletries and even copies of the Argus to send to Royal Welsh troops in Afghanistan.
Mrs Townsend, who has two sons, Jim and David, died on January 31 in Tredegar Hospital.
Scheme manager at the flats, Caroline Bridge, who knew Mrs Townsend for almost 20 years, said: "It's very sad, we've lost a real gem of a woman. She will be remembered with great fondness and admiration."
The funeral is at 2.45pm on Thursday at Gladstone Street Methodist Church.
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