AN MP has made paid tribute to her mother – a doctor’s wife who was highly respected by patients in a large rural area.

Danish-born Grete Lise McIntosh, who died aged 88, was known for her gentle and caring manner while she supported her husband, Alistair, a GP for many years in Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham.

She died in Richardson Hospital, in Barnard Castle, where she had been a patient for some time.

A large number of people attended her funeral last Wednesday, in Middleton-in-Teesdale Parish Church.

Her daughter, Miss Anne McIntosh, Conservative MP for the Vale of York, said: “I am immensely grateful for what she did for me – the excellent start in life and all the loving support she gave me.

“She instilled in me a love of languages, history and European travel.”

Dr Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore, a GP in Teesdale, said: “Mrs McIntosh was always held in high regard by the people in this area.

She was greatly respected.”

Mrs McIntosh began her working life as a secretary for a lawyer in the Danish High Court.

From 1943 to 1946, she worked in the Danish Interior Ministry.

In a letter to Dr McIntosh, the Danish ambassador to Britain wrote: “This was in many ways the darkest and most difficult period of the war in Denmark. Your wife was a splendid example of those who carried more than their weight throughout this momentous period.”

She later worked in Hamburg, for the Danish Censorship Sector, and it was there she met Dr McIntosh, a captain in the British Medical Corps.

They were married in Denmark in 1948.

They moved to Edinburgh, then Harrogate, before settling in Teesdale.

She was an expert gardener and the landscaped areas around her home became a showpiece admired by many people.

As well as her daughter, she is survived by her husband, her son, Dr Iain McIntosh, who is a GP in Pateley Bridge, near Harrogate, and three grandchildren, Sarah, Amy and Callum.