By Sue Crawford

Last updated at 11:51, Thursday, 13 September 2012

Grand old man Charles Graham, who lived near Carlisle, has died just a month short of his 103rd birthday.

Mr Graham was one of the county’s oldest residents.

He died in the Cumberland Infirmary on Sunday where he was being treated for chest problems.

A keen violinist, he was well-known in the city for dressing up as Jimmy Dyer, the infamous Carlisle fiddler whose statue stands in The Lanes Shopping Centre.

He and his wife Jean had been married for 73 years. Jean, 96, still lives at the family home in Thurstonfield where she is cared for by daughter Sheila.

Today Sheila paid tribute to her father: “Dad was a keen violinist.

“He just loved to play classical music and was a member of orchestras and groups around the area. He had been in hospital for 23 days when he died. The doctor sent him in for tests because he was a bit rundown but he got a chest infection which turned into slight pneumonia.

“He was due to go for convalescence in Wigton but he suffered heart problems and died.

“It is so sad that he died just a month before his 103rd birthday.”

The couple had three children, Sheila, Joyce and Leslie, ten grandchildren and 28 great grandchildren.

Until he retired in 1974 Mr Graham was head chemist at Boots in English Street, Carlisle.

He started his working life down the pits aged 14 before going on to serve as a nurse in London later becoming qualified as a dispensing chemist.

His funeral takes place at Carlisle Crematorium on Monday.

A request has been made for family flowers only but Sheila said donations could be made to either Elm B Patients Fund at the Cumberland Infirmary or the Penny Jones Animal Hospice at Rigghead Cottage, Hethersgill. Sheila added: “We’ve done this because dad always liked to keep local charities going. It seems fitting”

First published at 11:23, Thursday, 13 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk