MORE than 450 mourners packed a village church on Tuesday to pay their respects to devoted couple Graham and Nicky Smith, who were killed in a car crash two weeks ago.

The couple, of Blackberry Lane, Potterne, who had been married 19 years, died in the accident on the A361 at Lower Foxhangers, near Devizes, on March 26. The driver of the other car, John Selway, from Steeple Ashton, also died.

Their family had insisted that, as they had spent the whole of their adult life together, they should be buried together, and the two flower-decked coffins were placed side by side before the altar.

All 350 seats inside St Mary's Church, Potterne, were filled 15 minutes before the service was due to start and many mourners had to stand at the back of the church.

The couple's employer, Cross Manufacturing, closed its works at Hopton Industrial Estate so that employees could attend the church service.

The Rev David Howard welcomed the congregation to his church, though, he said, for many it would be one of the hardest days of their lives.

He said the loss of Graham and Nicky Smith had hit everyone very hard, but the service was to celebrate their lives. He said that the obvious question to ask was why these two innocent people had been taken so young Mr Smith was 42 and his wife 39.

He said that the couple were both born in Devizes and attended Devizes School, but, as an older pupil, Mr Smith could not be seen to take an interest in someone lower down the school, so Mrs Smith was 16 by the time the two finally got together.

Mr Howard said: "One night Graham had to give a lift home to a group of friends, one of whom was Nicky. He took Nicky home last of all, which is always a sign of someone's intentions."

They were married in 1985 and had been a devoted couple ever since. Mr Smith had spent virtually all of his working life with Cross Manufacturing and Mrs Smith had moved to Cross to work closer to him.

They had a wonderful sense of

humour and loved going to theme parks. He said: "They were constantly searching for scarier and more exciting rides and were looking forward to a family trip to Florida."

The couple leave two children, Sam, 13, and ten-year-old Lucy, who are presently being looked after by relatives. Sam was in the car with his parents and suffered serious arm injuries. He is now back with his maternal grandmother, Marlene Hunter, in Colerne, after undergoing three operations at the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

Mr Howard remembered that Lucy read the lesson at his induction as vicar of Potterne six weeks ago.

Mrs Smith's father, John Fell, paid his tribute to the couple. He said that their lives were well summed up by their favourite hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful, which was sung at their wedding and also at Tuesday's service.

He said: "They loved all living things and were always happy. They laughed at anything that went wrong and you could always rely on them to see the funny side and cheer you up.

"Graham was always good at the business side of things. We are all going to miss them terribly."

Following the service, the family followed the two hearses to Devizes Cemetery for the interment.

Shortly after the couple's death, Mr Fell said: "Graham used to like playing the odd game of skittles but, apart from that, they were always together. They used to do everything as a family, that is the tragedy of it.

"It's almost fitting that they died together. They were inseparable in life, and will be inseparable in death."

Donations for the Ronald McDonald Children's Charities and Wiltshire Air Ambulance should be sent to funeral director John Stuart at Hillworth Road, Devizes.