Tributes paid to former Express & Star journalist

Those are the heartfelt words as tributes have been paid to former Express & Star journalist Sue Nuttall, who has died aged 79.

Sue died in the arms of her husband Peter, 84, on July 8 after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Sue had two stints at the Express & Star, first in the 1950s and then from 1967 to 1985.

She also worked at a handful of other newspapers including the former British tabloid publication Reveille Magazine, owned by the Mirror Group.

Paying tribute to Susan, Mr Nuttall, who lives in Northampton, said: "She always wanted to be a journalist since she was at school. Sue was a really good journalist and that is why she was able to get jobs at newspapers around the country.

"She had great faith in people and always believed the best in people. Sue never really had a bad word to say about anyone. She knew you shouldn't drew conclusions about a person until you really knew them.

"She was a great human being and a very kind person."

Sue was born in Wolverhampton and attended Wolverhampton Girl's High School, where was a classmate and friend of the late Baroness Rachael Heyhoe Flint.

On her return to the area in later life, Sue became a governor of that school.

She began her journalism career as a cub reporter at the Cannock Chase Courier in 1954.

After cutting her teeth in Cannock, she transferred to the Bridgnorth Journal and then had stints at the Shrewsbury Chronicle and the Express & Star.

It was working for the Shrewsbury Chronicle that her then editor, who was impressed with journalistic skills, recommended her to the Mirror Group, and she got a job as a features writer at Reveille.

Although Sue and Peter are both from Wolverhampton, it was in fact in London where they met and their relationship blossomed.

In fact, the pair had initially met many years before as teenagers at a dance, but they went their separate ways.

But one train ride back to Wolverhampton, Sue and Peter began chatting in a carriage - and their relationship developed from there.

Later on, they moved back to Wolverhampton. They got married at Wolverhampton Register Office in 1967 and bought a house in Goldthorn Hill.

Two years later, Sue gave birth to their daughter, Justine Cullimore, in 1969. Justine, who is married to Neil, has two children, twin 13-year-old boys called Harry and Charlie.

Sue and Peter moved Gnosall, just west of Stafford, which Peter said was Sue's 'happiest place where she has lived'.

Peter got a promotion with his company to its head office in Enville, Middlesex, and they moved down south, where Sue worked at a Hartford newspaper and then the Bedford Herald.

It was at that latter paper where Sue retired, after Peter himself announced he was retiring.

In retirement they moved to Northampton, where Justine was living, and settled their to enjoy their later years.

Justine, paying tribute to her mother, said: "Mum loved being with people and was always interested in other people, what they had to say and the stories they had to tell, that’s perhaps what made her such a good journalist. She was patient, kind and understanding, never having a bad word to say about anyone, and always saw the best in everyone and I will cherish all these memories of her.

"Sue's funeral will be taking place at Northampton Cemetery on August 15 at 2pm and her former friends are welcome."