TRIBUTES have been paid to a Chester stalwart who "everyone wanted on their team".

From the age of five, Stanley Gee lived at the same address in Hoole and did tireless work for the deaf community and other good causes through local churches and the Masons.

Stanley Douglas Gee was born in Oldham in 1927 to Gertrude and Arthur Gee. In 1932, his father's work as a tailor brought the family to live at Ermine Road, Chester, and this became Stan’s home for his remaining 87 years.

Between 1932 and 38, he attended Hoole and Newton Elementary School, from which he progressed to Chester City Grammar School, where he eventually took and passed the Northern Universities School Certificate Examination in 1943.

Stan moved directly from school in Handbridge to work in Handbridge when in 1943 he became a temporary civil servant at Headquarters, Western Command – a position that became permanent once the post-war recruitment of permanent staff began.

He was rapidly promoted, with his final fifteen years being spent as the personnel manager for the Ministry of Defence across the North West - but still based in Chester. Other than nine months spent in Cardiff and three months in Donnington, Stan’s entire career was in Chester until he retired in 1987.

In 1968 he married Constance Manley, known as Connie. Connie died in August, 2009.

A church-goer his entire life, Stand attended the City Road Presbyterian Church and later All Saints Church on Hoole Road. In 1970, he moved to St Peter’s Church on the Cross, to support an old school friend, the Rev‘d G. Francis, who had become the Rector. After the closure of St Peter’s, he and Connie attended Eccleston Church, until they moved with Rev’d Ken Harris to Hargrave.

When his friend, Rev’d G. Francis left Chester, Stan took over as the Bishop of Chester’s representative on the committee of the local Deaf Society and soon he became its chairman. This provided an opportunity for Stan and Connie to work together on the fundraising – and a phenomenal pair they were, sweeping in all of their (very many) friends to help at various events. He was recognised by the wider organisation of deaf societies and served as vice chair of the Cheshire Society until he finally retired in 1990.

Friend Charles Bradley, who met Stan in 1968, said: "How many people found that they could rely on Stan just being there, week in and week out, for simple things that they just couldn’t manage for themselves? The truth is that he cared for people – in both his professional and in his private life. And he lived out his faith in his life – The Gospel of St Matthew Chapter 25, Verse 40 “…whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did for me.” Stanley not only believed that – he lived it. "He was a truly Christian gentleman.

"There are other words that we might also apply. He was a truly honest and honourable man, with a keen sense of justice and an incisive understanding of right and wrong. As he aged, he became rather more set, both in his ways and his ideas, but he was always very highly principled and he still cared very deeply for people. And, when you come down to it, he was a lovely man; kind, thoughtful, generous (while always being careful) and a pleasure to be with. He was thorough, well-organised and utterly dependable – the guy that anyone would want on their team."

The funeral took place at Blacon Crematorium on Tuesday, July 9, after Mr Gee died on Sunday, June 9.