TRIBUTES have been paid to a popular firefighter – who greeted the Duchess Of Cambridge on her visit to Grimsby – after he lost his six-year battle with cancer.
Pete Oxley died at home surrounded by his family on December 29. He was 39.
The married father-of-one was diagnosed with myeloma in June 2008, and his brave battle against the illness inspired friends and colleagues to raise thousands of pounds for the charity Myeloma UK in his honour.
He joined Humberside Fire And Rescue Service in 2003, after four-and-a-half years in the Royal Marines, spending most of his career on Red Watch at Peaks Lane Station.
One of his proudest moments was meeting the Duchess of Cambridge on her visit to the station in March 2013, along with his daughter Evie who handed Kate a bouquet of flowers.
Today, friends and colleagues have paid tribute to an "absolutely top bloke" who always put others before himself.
Born in Grimsby in 1975, Pete grew up in Healing and attended the village's primary and secondary schools, before going to Franklin College.
He worked as a lab technician at Ciba (now Novartis) from 1991 to 1998, but after becoming bored with "watching test tubes popping all day", he joined the Royal Marines Commandos.
It was while serving with the Marines that he met his future wife Natalie in 1999, and they married at Old Clee Church in 2001.
That year, their daughter Evie was born and deciding that he wanted to be around to see her grow up, he left the Marines and signed up for the "next most exciting thing" – the fire service.
Natalie, 41, of Larkspur Avenue, Healing, said: "He absolutely loved working for the fire service and he made some great friends there. I think he found civilian life quite frustrating because he was such a get-up and go guy."
On his encounter with the Duchess in March 2013, Natalie said: "He really enjoyed that. He kept jokingly referring to her as his girlfriend for a long time afterwards! He was bowled over by how stunning she was."
Despite undergoing chemotherapy and having stem cell and bone marrow transplants, Pete returned to work on several occasions whilst he fought the illness.
Natalie said: "In 2010 he came back from being poorly and got 11.1 on the bleep test. You have to get 8.7 but he always pushed himself.
"He was a very determined guy. He set his heart on certain things and would fight as hard as he could to get there.
"The words do not exist to express how deeply he was loved and how much he will be missed.
"He was an amazing dad and everything he did was to make sure Evie could achieve what she wanted to achieve.
"I realised he was special but I didn't realise he was so special to everyone else until I got all the cards and messages. Everyone adores him."
Evie, 13, said: "He was really funny. He used to play with me all the time and he would make me and my friends bananas and custard with chocolate. He gave up his dream job for me."
Pete's funeral will take place at Grimsby Crematorium at 12.20pm on Thursday, January 15.
