Gibb widow’s huge thanks for ‘amazing’ support (From The Oxford Times)

Gibb widow’s huge thanks for ‘amazing’ support

6:44pm Sunday 1st July 2012 in News By Rhianne Pope

WHEN the body of Bee Gees legend Robin Gibb passed through the streets of Thame, hundreds of residents lined the streets.

Many of them crying, they threw flowers in front of the coffin and stood, heads bowed, as the cortege passed.

His widow Dwina, who still lives at the couple’s home in Priest End, said those images would stay with her forever.

Speaking to the Oxford Mail for the first time since the funeral earlier this month, she said: “It was incredible, it was so touching.

“There were familiar faces in the crowd, people we saw around Thame. It was amazing.

“Robin loved Thame. This was his home.”

With brothers Maurice and Barry, Mr Gibb sold more than 200 million records worldwide and notched up dozens of hits.

He passed away on May 20 after a lengthy battle with cancer and pneumonia.

His funeral, attended by friends, family and famous faces, was held at St Mary’s Church in the town on Friday, June 8.

The funeral cortege, accompanied by his two beloved Irish wolfhounds Ollie and Missy, followed a route down the High Street.

Mrs Gibb said: “We didn’t know how many people were going to turn out.

“But we had six big boxes of ‘get well’ cards from around the world and we had so many sympathy cards.

“I have two tap-estries of them in our private chapel, I pinned them all up, there were hundreds.

“I’m now starting to answer people and thank them for their thoughts.”

Mr Gibb, right, moved to Thame in 1983 and became a visible presence around the town. He turned on the Christmas lights in 2004.

He is now buried just yardsfrom his home, the Prebendal mansion, in the churchyard of St Mary’s. Mrs Gibb said: “Robin loved living here. He liked going into Oxford, going into the quadrangles and listening to the songs of the choirs. He loved that.

“Sometimes we would wander in and he would just stop and listen.”

She added: “And he loved the house. In the end he just wanted to come home here and sit in the garden with a cup of tea and have the dogs by his side.

“That is why it was so fitting the dogs were a part of his funeral.

“When Robin went into hospital for the last time, Ollie just sat at the bottom of the stairs and cried. He knew.

“And afterwards we brought Robin back to the house the night before the funeral. We laid him there and Ollie sat with him for hours.”

Mrs Gibb said she thought the spot where her husband was buried was ‘perfect’.

“Robin would often walk on those pathways near the church and he actually used to stand exactly where he was buried,” she said.

“He would stand next to the tree and look back at the house.”

Saying she was taking life one day at a time, she added: “I have no intention of moving now. This was our home.”