A moving and emotional service, filled with tears, laughter and bouncing rave beats, has been held so close friends and family could say ‘goodbye’ to a popular party animal with an infectious personality.
Sun shone brightly as the funeral cortege brought the body of 25-year-old mobile phone saleswoman Natalie Marshall to Wear Valley Crematorium, just before lunchtime on Friday.
In accordance with her wishes, mourners all wearing black, huddled under umbrellas and donned sunglasses, united in their loss, their shared grief palpable.
Today, of all days, the shades were multipurpose, in that were part of a dress code, shielded wearers from the dazzling sunlight, but also concealed the many damp eyes and smudged, once-flawless, make-up.
A model pair of sunglasses sat on a top of one of the numerous floral tributes with another, in the back of the hearse, spelling out Natalie.
As her nearest and dearest slowly filed inside, Natalie was carried in a black coffin to the dance version of Wings by Birdy.
Her death, in a car crash on the A167, near Darlington, has rocked her home village of nearby St Helen Auckland, where she lived with two younger sisters, Corrina Mae, 17, and Shannon, 14, as their legal guardian.
Read more: Fundraiser to help teenage sisters following death of Natalie Marshall
Her older sister, Chloe, 28, who is now looking after the girls, fought back her own tears to make an emotional tribute to Natalie.
She said: “You would always just appear out of nowhere when I needed you the most and we would always make the best of a bad situation.
“The day I got the phone call to say you had been in a tragic accident and had not survived was the worst day of my life.
“I no longer have my eating partner - to argue with about where we go to eat only to end up going to McDonald’s.
“I no longer have my shopping partner - to go around the Metro for hours but buy nothing and then complain we should have went somewhere else and then laugh about it all the way home.
“I no longer have my car partner - where we would just go on a random drive with music so loud it would make us forget all of the problems in life.
“I could be stood here for hours talking about you and you could have written an autobiography about your life.
“You lived it like everyday was your last.”
Read more: Tributes paid to crash victim Natalie Marshall
Chloe, 28, was supported by Natalie’s friends Emily Robson and Megan Newcombe and Shannon Murray, who has raised over £5,000 for the family to help care for Natalie’s teenage sisters.
Both girls paid warm and loving tributes to their older sister, thanking her for everything she did for them, as did her parents, Alex and Lorraine.
Mourners watched moving musical montages from Natalie’s life featuring the amazing memories shared with friends and her sisters.
During her own tribute Shannon Murray, 25, from Crook, said: “There are some who bring a light so great to the world that even after they are gone the light remains.
“Keep shining bright like the diamond you were.
“We may not be blood related but you really were that friend that was family to me and mine.
“Goodbyes are not forever, goodbyes are not the end.
“They simply mean, I’ll miss you until we meet again.
“I will see you on the other side.”
Click here to see our live video stream of Natalie's funeral
The Northern Echo attended with the permission of Natalie's family.
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