EDWINA Abrahams picked up a single sunflower from the vase on her kitchen windowsill and carried it out to the green opposite the home where she and Maurice raised their family.

Clutching it in her hand the petals started to fall.

Her kitchen is filled with flowers and cards from the crowds of people who knew Maurice. But this bunch was special.

It was the last bunch of flowers given to her by the devoted husband who brought her flowers every week for the 38 years they were married.

“Maurice bought me flowers every Saturday morning,” she said, choking back tears.

“Last Saturday morning he bought me sunflowers.

“He still bought me flowers every week for the whole time we were married.

“Last week sunflowers. The week before it was gladioli

“He used to bring me chocolates sometimes too. I was thinking I haven’t had any chocolates for a while and then I found a box of chocolates in the garage the other day."

Explaining how they first met, she said: “I used to work in a shop and he used to come in and do odd jobs. He was a charmer I guess.

“He just had a way about him. He was ex-military and I liked a man in uniform.

“He had that military thing about him. He was always on time. And he was so good as a dad. He took Lizzie to her first dance classes.

"I said she couldn’t go into town on her own for dance classes and he said he’d go with her. He would pick Edward up from school and take him on jobs with him.”

Exactly a week earlier, after giving Edwina her sunflowers Maurice set off to make another bride’s perfect big day - but for the first time ever he was late.

“The agency rang me to say Maurice had missed his 2.30pm pick up,” Edwina said.

“I said he must be stuck in all that stupid air show traffic. I couldn’t reach him on his mobile.

"Then my friend came up from up the road and said she’d just seen something on her daughter’s phone. And she showed me and said ‘is this your car?

"I knew it straight away. The police came round at about 11 o’clock that night. But they couldn’t say for sure.

“I was still calling his mobile on Sunday morning, still hoping he’d pick up the phone."

Even after seeing pictures of Maurice’s beloved Daimler after the crash, his family still preyed he might be safe.

His daughter Lizzie said: “I was saying ‘is everybody out of the airfield?’ Because if dad saw a crash he’d stop to help.

“That’s the sort of thing he’d do. He’d have stayed until everyone else was safe.”

Maurice inspired Lizzie’s future career as a dancer after they learned to dance together when she was 13.

She said: “He introduced me to jazz music and we learned swing dancing together.

"We would go to swing and jazz gigs and break in backstage,

"I took him to Worthing to see Ronnie Scott’s All Stars a couple of weeks ago. He loved jazz and swing and it was a special thing for us.

“My dad was a great dancer. He taught with me sometimes. Once a year he would come and teach rock and roll. He was a big rock and roller. He saw Bill Hailey live and he would bring his Bill Hailley records down and say ’ this is a record’.”

If there is one comfort his family can take from his death, Maurice lived his life to the full.

“He always said he didn’t want to be ill and go into a home and be looked after", Lizzie said.

Maurice’s youngest child Edward did not know about the crash until Thursday.

His family spent four desperate days trying to contact Edward, who lives in Thailand working as an English teacher, to break the awful news.

Eventually after desperate pleas by his sister through social media the British Embassy were able to track him down.

He said: “I normally phone on a Friday, so I had no idea.

“It’s been difficult to come to terms with. Since I got home I just keep waking up at 2am.

“It’s awful. We were very close.

“We went on a lot of his jobs together.

“He would pick me up after school and take me out on jobs.”

Maurice’s family said they had been inundated with messages from people with stories about Maurice.

They are asking people to write them down and put them in a box at his funeral – which will be held at St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean on Wednesday September 9.