A FORMER Darlington mayoress has died unexpectedly at the age of 77.

Messages of condolence have been pouring in to Cllr Charles Johnson, the deputy leader of Darlington council, since his wife, Carol, passed away suddenly at the weekend.

“They have come from far and wide – it has been amazing and humbling,” he said. "I'm so grateful that people across the borough and beyond have shared their sympathy."

Carol became particularly well known throughout the town wearing the mayoress’ chains when Cllr Johnson was mayor in 2013.

The Northern Echo: Carol and Charles Johnson as mayoress and mayor of Darlington in 2012Carol and Charles Johnson as mayoress and mayor of Darlington in 2012

“She would have done it year after year after year,” said Cllr Johnson. “We made an enormous number of friends, met lots of really great people and had some fantastic times. We focussed on the residents of the town, organising an event for them almost every month and raised about £20,000 for our 12 charities.”

The Conservative leader of the council, Cllr Heather Scott, who has known Mrs Johnson since 1976 when she and Cllr Johnson were first elected to the council, said: “This is a terrible shock – I only saw her last Thursday and she was so full of life.

“She was a very loyal Conservative, treasurer of the party for a long time, but beyond that, she was a wonderful, vivacious person – that’s what makes this so tragic, and I feel deeply saddened for Charles and his family.”

Labour MP Jenny Chapman said: “I was very fond of Carol. She was a big hearted, warm woman, who was always pleased to see you. I don’t remember ever speaking about politics with her – she loved a good laugh and a gossip. She was well known and well liked and will be tremendously missed.”

Peter Gibson, the Conservatives’ Parliamentary candidate in the town at the next election, said: “She was incredibly welcoming to me following my adoption, and she had such a huge zest for life. Her passing is a huge loss to the town.”

Deputy Labour leader Cllr Chris McEwan said: “I really got to know Carol during her time as mayoress and I was really struck by her ability to engage with anybody in a down to earth style.

“I was saddened and shocked when I heard, and I am sure my feelings are shared by many of my colleagues in the Labour Group. Not only is she a loss for Charles and the family but also a loss to Darlington – she was a real character.”

Carol’s father, Reg Routh, ran a bakery in the Park Lane area of Darlington, and she attended Arthur Pease and Eastbourne schools. She met Cllr Johnson at the Green Tree Café, on the corner of Skinnergate and Blackwellgate, in 1958 and they married four years later. They have two children, Nathan and Fay, and three grandchildren aged between ten and 18, Emily, Libby and Sam.

Carol worked for many years in accounts at the duty free section of Teesside Airport, although Cllr Johnson’s work as an engineer constructing power stations took them around the world – they lived in South Africa for four years.

On his retirement, they devoted their lives to their family, Conservative local politics – she stood for the council in her childhood home ward of Park East – and to travel. “It had to be somewhere hot, that was her first criteria, although we probably enjoyed China more than anywhere else,” said Cllr Johnson. “We found it such a fascinating change from our own lives that we went back for a second visit.”

The funeral is at 10.15am at St Cuthbert’s Church on October 28.