Former Penrith café owner Sylvia Bain has died at the age of 76.
Sylvia, who was born in Bradford, was the eldest daughter of Betty Stone and sister to Edith and the late Kennith and Jane.
Sylvia was adopted by close family friends Annie and Alf Redall in 1946.
They moved their new family to Unthank, near Penrith, where Sylvia went to school and met her best and longstanding friend Carol Cavaghan.
The two girls would go to schools together and attend dances, which is where Sylvia met her first husband Clarence Frith.
Clarence and Sylvia married and set up a family home at Brentfield Way, Penrith, where they brought up their three children Shaun, Beverley and Dean. Clarence lost his life in 1975 during a work accident, leaving Sylvia and their three young children behind.
The community rallied around the family. Beverly and Dean soon felt like they had at least 20 uncles and 20 aunts, as they were so well cared for and the family expressed their thanks for the kindness they experienced at this time.
Sylvia married William Douglas Bain ( Dougie) a few years later and they moved to their long term family home at Monnington Way in the town.
Dougie, a wagon driver, set up a café on Gilwilly Industrial Estate, known as Doug’s Diner.
You would be welcomed with a smile and a greeting from Sylvia and her friend Liz who had a favourite phrase: “We don’t do fast food, just good food as fast as we can.”
Unbeknown to Dougie, the opening of Doug’s Diner would turn out to be one of his better ideas as, by chance, it reunited Sylvia with her birth mother.
When a customer visited the café, he could not get over how much Sylvia looked like his aunt Betty, who was later confirmed to be Sylvia’s birth mother, who lived in Doncaster.
Sylvia and Betty and her newfound sister Edith were reunited and, over several years, shared and built memories together, before Betty died.
Sylvia remained close to Edith and had 18 happy years together with her sister.
Sylvia loved her sport. If you called to her while sport was on the TV, it could be long wait for her attention.
She loved to watch speedway and was a big Workington Comets fan. She also watched the cycling and rowing and enjoyed watching her grandchildren play sport.
Sylvia often made her family and friends laugh with the funny things she said – which the family referred to as Sylviarisms.
Sylvia is survived by her husband Dougie, her children Shaun, Beverley and Dean, her sister Edith, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
The funeral service was held at Carlisle crematorium. Richardson’s Funeral Directors, Penrith, had charge of the arrangements.
