Miss Davies died in a nursing home in Sussex last month

Theresia Eirwen Davies died in hospital in Brighton last month.

Miss Davies' distant cousin had desperately tried to find Betty Bowen, who was unknown to the family, so that she could pay her last respects.

Her last request was to be buried in Wales but she was due to be cremated in Sussex until her relative stepped in.

The search for Mrs Bowen initially centred on Powys but she was eventually traced to Rhondda, near where Miss Davies grew up.

Plans are now in place for two black Belgian horses to draw Miss Davies' funeral carriage when the former legal secretary is buried in Treorchy cemetery on Monday.

She will be laid to rest near the grave of her father, who died in the flu pandemic of 1918, when she was just 10 years old.

Third beneficiary

Bronwen Sanders knew Miss Davies, her second cousin, as "Aunty".

She is also another beneficiary and said she was relieved to have tracked down Mrs Bowen, a former childhood friend of the late woman.

The search had centred on Llansantffraid in Powys where Miss Davies had retired, but after the story was published in a newspaper, Mrs Bowen was found in south Wales.

Mrs Sanders, 53, who now lives in Eastbourne, said: "I also needed to discover the whereabouts of the third beneficiary of my aunt's will.

The legal secretary wanted to be buried back in the Rhondda

"Not necessarily in time for her funeral, not sure she would be alive but, if she was, I wanted to afford her every opportunity to say her last goodbyes."

Mrs Bowen, from Trealaw, is a former Transport and General Workers' Union shop steward who recruited more than 2,500 catering workers to the union and began a fight for their employment rights.

"Do I remember Miss Davies? I'll say I do! Theresia, as Ronny, Peggy and me best knew to call her. Girls together in the Rhondda, until I'm the sole survivor," she said.

The search had followed a mix-up about the funeral plans for Miss Davies.

The former legal secretary was to be cremated until Mrs Sanders stepped in, maintaining that Miss Davies' last request was to be buried near her father, William Christmas Davies, back in Rhondda.

After a two-week delay, Miss Davies' funeral cortege will leave east Sussex for Wales on Friday afternoon.

The manager of a retirement complex where she lived, Sue Grisedale, believed it would be a comfort to her friends there to know Miss Davies was to buried back home in Wales.