‘Unbelievably kind and generous to a fault’ – Jackie Monte-Colombo

STANDING on her doorstep, smoking a cigarette and sipping a green tea, Jackie Monte-Colombo chatted away to anyone who went by.

Ms Monte-Colombo, who has died aged 71, was the person who everyone on her street knew, loved and trusted.

Yesterday (Thursday), her Devonia Road neighbours lined the street to pay tribute to her as her funeral procession drove by. With railings lined with white ribbons, flowers and tributes, residents spoke of a woman who asked for nothing, but gave everything.

“She was my best friend and the best neighbour you could ever have,” said Lin Sutton, who met Ms Monte-Colombo when they both moved into their building in 1979.

Neighbours Lin Sutton, centre, and Jo Willett

She added: “I still can’t believe that she’s gone. In the daytime, until we went to bed, both our doors were unlocked, so she’d knock and come in and I’d do the same to her. We’d be out in the garden together tidying it.”

Ms Sutton has fond memories of the two of them out in the garden “talking about politics and the Tory party – and those [conversations] are unrepeatable,” she said.

Ms Monte-Colombo became a part of Ms Sutton’s family – becoming godmother to Ms Sutton’s granddaughter, and a regular fixture at family meals and weddings.

“Selfless is a good word to describe her. She was unbelievably kind and generous to a fault. If you needed something, and she had it, she would give you her last one.

Flowers and ribbons lined the railings in Devonia Road

“When her aunt died, just over a year ago, she donated her possessions to whoever wanted anything. My granddaughter had just moved to a new place, and she gave her cutlery, crockery, a hoover, and then a woman down the road, Leanne, she volunteers for Women’s Aid, she gave her some clothes – she didn’t want anything going in the dustbin.

“She was just really, really kind, and I miss her.”

Ms Monte-Colombo was born in Hackney, but spent much of her life in Islington, working at the Islington Gazette and then at City, University London as facilities manager.

Leanne Vissler, another of Ms Monte-Colombo’s neighbours and friends said, “For many people in the local area, she may have been the only person they had a warm conversation with on that day, because she was always on her doorstep. I think it meant a lot to them.”

She added: “Jackie definitely deserves a beautiful send-off. She deserves to be beautifully remembered.

“People like Jackie made the street a better place to live, she was one of those people who binds the community together, which I feel should be celebrated in any street, but especially in London in this day and age.

“She was exceptionally kind and interested in people,” said Jo Willet, another Devonia Road resident. “There is a whole big bowl full of people’s house keys in her flat. She had everybody’s keys because she was the perfect person, she was always there, and she was incredibly kind and supportive to everybody.”