Football flag drapes coffin of crash victim Judy De Gelas

Hundreds of mourners gathered today to pay their final respects to grandmother Judy De Gelas, who was hit by a car while walking with her grandchildren in High Street.

They packed into St Augustine's Church in Amersham Hill, High Wycombe to bid goodbye to the school secretary, 59.

Tributes were paid to the 'girl we all loved’ who was the ‘best mother and grandmother you could hope for’.

The football club’s anthem, Marching On Together, was played at the end of the service.

She died after a car collided with her and her two grandchildren, a nine-year-old boy and five-year-old girl, in High Street on June 2, according to police. The children are now home.

High Wycombe’s Royal Grammar School, where she worked as a secretary, closed early so staff and students could attend.

Her brother, Dennis De Gelas, thanked the police, the air ambulance and the staff of Wycombe Hospital and John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

He also thanked ‘the very special people’ who were the first people to attend at the accident ‘who tended them and cared for them’.

He read a poem written for his sister who he described as ‘the girl we all loved’.

There was laughter from the congregation as he remembered her burning her triangular green hat when she finished Lady Verney High School, High Wycombe.

She had four sons who she brought up by herself which her brother said was ‘tough’. Mr De Gelas said her three grandchildren all adored her.

He added: “We all love you Judy, I say with a tear in my eye. You were the core of our family, that no-one can deny.”

Mr De Gelas said: “If Judy was here and could speak to her sons, she would say ‘together, forever and definitely united’.”

The Widmer End resident was a worshipper at St Augustine's Church and was part of the choir, who sang You'll Never Walk Alone in her memory today.

Father Willie Strain said she ‘wasn't just a member of the church’ but someone who ‘shared her life with you’.

He said: “It is a great sense of loss we feel when we think about someone like that taken from us so suddenly and so tragically.

“She was the best mother and grandmother you could hope for – loyal, respected and talented.”

Father Willie said her family were her ‘heart and home’ and she was ‘passionate about them’.

He said ‘her heart was on her sleeves and she wanted you to share her life’.

Mrs De Gelas had left instructions for her funeral and chose the hymns Be Not Afraid, Walk With Me and Be Still My Soul.

He said ‘her own faith and hope’ believed there was ‘something greater beyond this life’.

Referring to the collision he said: “I don't know what happened but I think Judy was there to protect her grandchildren. That would be her final legacy in a way.”

He added: “Judy is now safe with God in eternity.”