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Almost 500 mourners attended the funeral on Monday of Jennifer Harvey, wife of the vicar of St Mary’s Church, in Upper Street.

Mother-of-two Ms Harvey, 52, died on March 22 at Charing Cross Hospital after being admitted with a fever. The cause of her death has yet to be established.

She grew up in Wolverhampton with two younger siblings, and met her future husband at Heath Park School. They married in 1986 at Holy Trinity Church, Heath Town.

Ms Harvey was a keen supporter of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and the trade union movement, and a committed member of the Labour Party and the Church of England.

She had a number of admin roles, including one at the Agricultural, Education and Training Unit at the University of Wolverhampton but also took on lots of voluntary work for the church.

She was chairwoman of the Breach Venture, a project which helped young people disaffected by education.

She also worked for Save the Children, in a project helping traveller families around Wolverhampton, Walsall Voluntary Action, Comic Relief, the Community Fund, Action Homeless and Remploy, a charity which helps disabled people find work.

She studied part-time for a degree in applied theology and social policy at Wolverhampton University.

Her husband, the Rev Simon Harvey, said: “I am touched by all the prayers and support for our family in recent weeks. We are unimaginably saddened that Jennifer should die so unexpectedly and we know that many, many people will be sharing our sorrow.

“Jennifer was thrilled that we should live next to St Mary’s Church, at the heart of Islington.

“She was a big part of our annual Soul in the City festival and had the knack of making people welcome, irrespective of their background or belief.

“Jennifer loved life and people. She loved her work at Remploy, seeking to enable people with disabilities to find and sustain employment. This reflected her wider values for justice, equality and inclusion.

“She loved to see the arrogant unthroned and the lowly lifted up. Her Christian faith was the foundation of her living life in all its fullness.”

He added: “We have shared 36 wonderful years – adventures that we couldn’t have imagined when we first met at school.

“Jennifer taught me all the important things. She loved her friends fiercely and was so very proud of our sons, Jon and Phil. Her last words to us were ‘I love my family’.”

The funeral service at St Mary’s was conducted by the Bishop of Stepney, the Rt Rev Adrian Newman.

Mourners included MP Emily Thornberry, councillors Richard Watts, Gary Poole and Nurullah Turan, colleagues from Remploy and many people from churches in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Leicester and St Mary’s.