Amelia ‘Millie’ Northwood passed away peacefully aged 83 with her devoted husband Joe by her side on November 27. They are pictured together in 1968
A heart-broken husband died days after promising his wife as her coffin was carried out of their home ‘I won’t be long. I’ll soon be with you’.
Amelia ‘Millie’ Northwood passed away peacefully aged 83 with her devoted husband Joe by her side on November 27.
The childless couple, of Castleford, West Yorkshire, had been inseparable in life since the met and fell in love in the 1960s.
Joe busied himself making the usual arrangements for his beloved Millie’s funeral, which was to be at St Oswald’s Church, in nearby Methley, where she had grown up, on Thursday December 7.
He had told the funeral directors, ‘I don’t want to be without her, I’ve no children and I don’t want her to be alone’.
On Monday December 4 – a day shy of his 88th birthday – Joe passed away too, fulfilling his vow to Millie.
The couple were buried following a joint funeral service in Whitwood Cemetery.
Joe had been a coal man and chimney sweep and Millie had worked as a tailoress in Leeds and Castleford.
They met in a pub and both enjoyed a drink throughout their lives.
In their latter years they had fish and chips hand delivered almost every day for tea from the nearby chippy, having had lunch and breakfast brought round from a local sandwich shop.
And the sandwich shop owner cooked them a Christmas dinner, with full trimmings, for their last three Yuletides.
The childless couple, of Castleford, West Yorkshire, had been inseparable in life since the met and fell in love in the 1960s. This image shows their two coffins next to each other in church
Close friend Dennis Lupton, 64, took over organising the joint funeral after Joe died.
Dennis said: ‘I’ve known Joe all my life. When I was younger I thought he was coloured because he always had a black face with the coal dust and soot.’
Joe and Millie got married in 1969 at Pontefract Register Office and ‘you never saw them apart’, said Dennis.
Millie was diagnosed with cancer and Joe helped nurse her.
‘The last three days of her life she wouldn’t get out of bed, Joe was like a saint,’ said Dennis.
Millie died at 7am on 27th November and Joe contacted McTigue Funeral Directors who collected his wife’s body.
Dennis said: ‘As they took Millie’s coffin out Joe shouted after her ‘I won’t be long. I’ll soon be with you’.’
At 4.30am – a week to the day after Millie died – Joe joined her in death. ‘One couldn’t live without the other,’ said Dennis.
Joe, left, had told the funeral directors, ‘I don’t want to be without her, I’ve no children and I don’t want her to be alone’. Mille is pictured on the right
He said both wished to be buried in the Whitwood Cemetery because that is where their best man Sam Lambert was laid to rest.
McTigue Funeral Directors wrote: ‘Emotional day today.
Early last week Amelia Northwood of Castleford passed away at home after a long illness.
‘Her beloved husband Joe said as we brought her out of the house ‘I don’t want to be without her, I’ve no children and I don’t want her to be alone… won’t be long! He shouted!
‘Joe Northwood passed away peacefully with a broken heart. With special thanks to St Oswald’s Church, Methley and The Wakefield Council. Today they had a joint funeral service and burial in Whitwood Cemetery.
‘Rest In Peace Mr & Mrs Northwood. Re-united and together again forever.’