Mum-of-two who classmates thought was dead turns up for school reunion 30 years later

A mum-of-two trying to organise a school reunion stunned her old classmates - after a mistaken newspaper obituary meant they thought she'd been dead for 30 years.

Mum-of-two Christine Greenslade, 66, was eager to meet up with her school chums in Penzance, Cornwall, after moving away in her late teens.

But when she rang around to organise a party her stunned old friends said a local newspaper had announced her death in 1980.

The mix-up happened when Christine's mum Pamela died of cancer in 1980 and she wanted to let her former community know.

Mother and daughter had both moved to Ipswich by then but Christine phoned the local newspaper, The Cornishman, to place an obituary.

Staff printed a short notice but confused the two women's names - convincing the entire town that Christine, just 34 at the time, was dead.

The obit said: 'Christine Greenslade has died, leaving three children and a husband'.

Christine, a painter who now lives in France, never had a chance to read the paper and so was completely oblivious to the bungle.

She finally discovered the gaffe after deciding to revisit her childhood home and phoning former school pals from St Gertrude's Convent.

Christine, a mother-of-two, said: 'I got in touch with an school friend, Viv Albright, and she sounded very odd on the phone.

'It wasn't quite the reception I was expecting from an old friend. Some time later she rang me back and said 'I'm terribly sorry, but we all thought you were dead'.

'Viv explained that they all saw the obituary and were convinced I was dead. She said they were all terribly upset because I'd died so young.

'Looking back I was in a bit of a state when I rang the newspaper because I'd just lost my my mum.

'But I can remember the man on the phone specifically asking for mother's name at the start of the call, and then asking for mine at the end.

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'At the time I was Christine Downing and she was a Greenslade - so it seemed to impossible to mix up the names.

'But there it was in the paper: Christine Greenslade has died, leaving three children and a husband.'

After discovering the mistake Christine and Viv spent the next few weeks tracing their old friends to deliver the news she was still alive.

She's travelling to Cornwall from her home in Maine-et-Loire, western France, next week for the planned reunion with old pals including Viv, Jane Woodall and Linda Turney.

Christine has enjoyed a long career as an artist and interior designer and has travelled the world, living in Spain, Germany, Italy, Bermuda and France.

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Christine said: 'The closest I ever got back to Cornwall was living in Exeter in Devon. I've been all over the world and had plenty of adventures but I've always wanted to catch up with my old friends.

'It's very sad to think that they mourned me all those years but at least I've got plenty to tell them.

'This whole experience has made me realise just how lucky I have been to be alive all these years and to have crammed so much into my life.

'But I've changed a lot since my teens - people won't recognise me.'