THE LAST wishes of a Blackburn teacher who touched hundreds of lives will be honoured at her funeral today.

Stella Schofield and husband Paul Schofield, both 65, of Livesey Branch Road, travelled and taught children across the globe over the last four decades.

Mr Schofield said: "Stella was a teacher and a methodist preacher who touched the lives of hundreds of people.

"I thank the Lord, I have been so well blessed over these last 43 years, because I have had the privilege of being married to one of his angels."

He said the pallbearers would be wearing red waistcoats in accordance with her last wishes.

He said: "She didn't want the pallbearers in black coats with long faces - so the funeral won't be a sorry affair.

"We are going to scatter her ashes over Lake Coniston, a special place for our family."

The couple, who met when they were 16 and married seven years later, spent most of their working lives teaching English and maths to children in Kenya, Fiji, Mexico before they were forced flee South America during the Falklands war.

Mr Schofield said: "We came back to Blackburn in 1982 with no jobs, four suitcases and two children.

He said: "We stayed with Stella's mother until we built our house."

Mrs Schofield spent the last 10 years of her working life at Runshaw College, Leyland.

She died on Tuesday, January 16 at home after battling with ovarian cancer for two years.

Son Christopher Schofield, 33, flew from Fuertaventura to support his father. He said: "She was just so loving and outgoing with her love."

"She always had time to listen and the funeral will be a testament to how many people she touched."

More than 300 are expected to attend the Feniscowles Methodist Church funeral at 2.15pm.