THE family of a terminally ill great-grandfather who drove off cliffs to end his life, have paid tribute to a caring family man.
Terry Windsor, 64, died on Tuesday last week at Peacehaven Heights.
He had been suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and was on the list for a lung transplant. Dependent on oxygen, he could not walk more than a few yards without help.
His son Kenn
y said Mr Windsor could no longer cope with being ill and wanted to die with dignity. He said: 'He was a very proud man. He would not want to be a burden and at the same time would not want to lose his dignity.
'Mentally, he was fine but he was stuck in a body which was not doing anything for him and he decided to take matters into his own hands.'
As well as Kenny, Mr Windsor leaves Ruth, his wife of nearly 44 years, and daughters Susanne and Diana, both from Eastbourne.
He also had five granddaughters, Sophie, 21, Amy, 19, Rebecca, 19, Abigail, 16, and Alice, nine, and great-granddaughter Megan, who is just a few months old. Mr Windsor spent 28 years in the RAF as a telecommunications engineer and worked his way up to chief technician. He served in the Gulf of Oman, Cyprus and Germany before retiring from the forces and spending 13 years as a prison officer and a brief spell working for the NHS.
Born in Brighton, Mr Windsor had been living in Lincoln but returned to Sussex and was temporarily at the Rushy Hill caravan site, Peacehaven, while he waited for a house in Eastbourne.
On May 6, Mrs Windsor called Kenny, who is a police officer, to say her husband was missing. Kenny called the local police and after a search Mr Windsor's car was found. He had driven off the cliff at 2.15pm.
Kenny added: 'He was disciplined, well-organised but very caring and very much a family man. 'We knew he wasn't going to survive much longer unless he could have a new lung.
'Of course the waiting list, if it was going to be an average wait, was not going to happen in time for him. 'He knew he did not have very much longer.'
Kenny urged people to support the organ donation register by carrying a donor card. Mr Windsor's funeral will take place on May 20 at Woodvale Crematorium, Brighton at 2.15pm. Family Flowers only, donations to the British Lung Foundation.
The full article contains 425 words and appears in Sussex Express Series newspaper.
