AN “outstanding pianist and music teacher” from Wantage has died age 89.

Edith Alice Marshall, who was born in 1924 in Walthamstow, East London, moved to Wantage in 1970 and taught piano there until the late 1990s.

She earned a degree from the Royal Academy of Music and at the age of 16 was invited to play with a national orchestra.

She declined the invitation on the advice of her father who thought her too young, although he encouraged her talent in every other way.

Her favourite composers were Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt.

Mrs Marshall was born Edith Gooch on October 1, 1924.

During the Second World War she was evacuated to Luton but missed her family so much she returned to live with them in London during the Blitz.

It was during the war that she met her husband-to-be, John Marshall, known as Jack, at the Hammersmith Palais ballroom.

They were married on May 6, 1944 at All Hallows Church, Greenford, a suburb of North London where she and her family had moved.

After the wedding she worked in the offices of the pharmaceutical company, Glaxo.

Their son John, known as Danny, was born in 1947 and Laurence in 1959.

Laurence Marshall said: “She will be remembered by family and Wantage friends as an outstanding pianist and teacher of music to the gifted professional and enthusiastic amateur.”

While living in Greenford she began her lifelong commitment to volunteering by joining the St John’s Ambulance Brigade.

The family moved to Wantage in 1970, where she volunteered in various capacities including serving in charity shops and helping at the local museum.

Throughout her life she was a regular churchgoer, attending the Anglican and Methodist churches in Wantage and the chapel at St Katharine’s House care home.

Her husband, Mr Marshall died at home in 1997.

Mrs Marshall moved into St Katharine’s House care home, Wantage, in 2000 but stayed active, joining entertainments and also dressing up enthusiastically.

As a resident of Wantage she enjoyed nothing more than a drive through the Downs and the Vale of the White Horse.

She died peacefully after a short illness, at St Katharine’s House on Tuesday, October 8.

Her funeral will be held at the chapel there on Saturday at 2pm.

She is survived by her sons, John and Laurence, grandchildren Joel, Mercy, Toby, and Meg, great grandchildren Jessica, Jack, Jamie, and Ruby, her sister Iris and her niece Susan.