Delivering the eulogy, Lincolnshire Echo editor Michael Sassi reminded the congregation of Bette's forthright personality which was often epitomised with the words "shut your claptrap, you're talking twaddle".

He said: "That was one of the first things Bette ever said to me. It was also one of the last. In fact, she often said it to me.

"Well Bette, if anything I'm about to say now is twaddle, I apologise in advance!"

Bette, he said, built her life around three great loves – her family, her Christian faith and her writing.

He said: "The power of Bette's writing was phenomenal. Her career was a 30-year master-class in journalism of the highest quality.

"In recent months Bette had been very ill. This didn't, of course, stop her working.

"She filed her final Echo column from her bed at Lincoln County Hospital little more than 24 hours before her own editor-in-chief called her up to his office for the last time."

Her Echo columns Church Lines, Bette's Bygones and Vickers in a Twist made her a well-known name throughout Lincolnshire.

She was also a published author, radio personality, charity fund-raiser and supporter of a number of high-profile organisations.

She left a son Neil, (50), daughter Stephanie, (53), daughter-in-law Jacqui, (43), son-in-law Dennis, (57), six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Her daughter, Stephanie Codd, said Bette reached her lowest moment when she was rediagnosed with breast cancer two years ago.

Stephanie said: "But then she telephoned me one morning and said ‘I have got such peace Stephanie and everything is going to be all right. God has given me the words'."