Last updated at 12:19, Friday, 12 October 2012

Joseph Wilson, the first resident at a Cockermouth care home when it opened in 2010, has died aged 82.

PERFECT DAD: Joseph Wilson

Mr Wilson, of The Crescent, Salterbeck, Workington, worked on the coke ovens at the steelworks in Moss Bay from the age of 24 until it closed.

He then became a rent collector for Allerdale council.

A keen walker, he would trek miles with his dogs to Seaton, Barepot and Camerton.

His daughter Claire, of Greysouthen, said he was well-known in Workington because he always stopped and chatted to people.

She added: “He loved to walk for miles and miles with his dogs and he knew everybody.

“He was such a lovely man and a real gentleman. Everybody loved him and he had so many friends.”

Born on Main Street in Cockermouth he was one of nine children. A devoted Catholic, he went to St Joseph’s Primary School, on Mountain View, and was an altar boy at St Joseph’s Church on Crown Street.

He was due to go on to Cockermouth Grammar School, but his family could not afford the fees.

Aged 16, he joined the navy and was based in Portsmouth until he suffered a head injury during an accident on one of the ships a few years later.

He met his wife Jean at a dance at Workington’s Princess Hall when they were both 15.

They were married at Trinity Methodist Church in Workington in 1953. It would have been the couple’s golden wedding anniversary next April.

After the couple were married, they moved in with Mrs Wilson’s parents in Salterbeck and went on to have three children, Paul, Philip and Claire.

A champion billiard player, Mr Wilson played for Distington Reading Rooms in the 1950s and had the highest break out of all the players.

Passionate about animals, he had an array of different breeds of dog over the years including labradors and boxers.

A horse racing enthusiast, he would take his daughter Claire to Carlisle and York races and would socialise with friends in the Ranch at Moss Bay and the town’s Railway Club.

Mr Wilson, who had suffered from dementia for 15 years, moved to Dalton Court Care Home in Cockermouth when his condition deteriorated.

Miss Wilson added: “He always wanted to move back to Cockermouth because that’s where his heart was and none of his brothers and sisters had left.

“He was a very religious man and when the dementia got worse he reverted back to the days when he was an altar boy and he would always say his prayers.

“Everyone at Dalton Court was wonderful with dad and we can’t thank them enough.

“I was always his little girl and he was always my dad. I always looked up to him. I couldn’t have wished for a better dad.”

He is survived by his wife Jean, daughter Claire, sons Paul and Philip, two grandsons and three granddaughters, his sisters Marjorie, Audrey and Lily and brothers Ian and Tommy.

A service will take place St Joseph’s Church, Cockermouth, on Thursday at 11am and he will be buried at Cockermouth Cemetery. There will be a wake at Hundith Hill Hotel, near Cockermouth, after the burial.

First published at 11:56, Friday, 12 October 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk