To successive generations, she was known, simply, as ‘mom’.

During her incredible life, Jean Israel, aged 90 – also known as ‘Jane’ – fostered an incredible 150 children and became a surrogate grandmother to too many people to count.

The unassuming Shrewsbury woman, whose funeral service was being held this afternoon, did it for the love of looking after others. She received little thanks, she was simply happy to know that she was making a difference to the lives of others.

She started to foster after being inspired by her mother, a lady called Mrs Upton, who had also fostered many children. Her lifelong friend, the Shrewsbury undertaker, Clive Pugh, of Clive Pugh Funeral Directors, in Abbey Foregate, first encountered Jean when he was in a pram. Jean introduced herself, having been a friend of Mr Pugh’s grandfather, Billy Pugh.

Clive said: “Basically, I was born in 1955 and Jean knew me from the start, because of the family connection.

“I think they lived in Springfield, in Shrewsbury, during the 1950s and 1960s. Her mother was a Mrs Upton and she fostered a lot of children.

“Mrs Upton died in 1962 and Jean basically took over. She had already been helping to foster children for a few years before.

“She’d help her mother when her mother fostered children, it all started from there. Fostering was in her blood.”

Fostering was not as regimented during the 1960s as it is today. Shropshire County Council knew Mrs Israel well and would simply telephone her and ask her to look after another youngster, be it for a month, or a couple of years.

Mr Pugh added: “There were children all the time. It was a lot different then. She fostered children of all ages, very young, adolescents, mature adults, the whole spectrum.”

Mr Pugh considered Mrs Israel a trusted confidante, and they met regularly to discuss their respective lives. Mrs Israel would talk about the many youngsters who she had cared for, discussing the highs and lows of being ‘Shropshire’s mother’. Mr Pugh, in turn, would talk about the people who had come to him. They were kindred spirits, bound by their ownership of the town’s secrets.

Both encountered people at a low ebb: Mr Pugh spending time with the recently-bereaved and Mrs Israel providing a loving home to society’s most vulnerable children.

Mr Pugh added: “They moved from Springfield and I had quite a lot to do with her because she lived next door to our offices in Abbey Foregate. She toddled in here quite often. I was very, very fond of Jean, there is no doubt about that.

“She looked very much to me for support, I suppose, more than anything else. I used to pop around and have a cup with her when I was feeling down. I had a strong bond with her.”

Mr Pugh describes Mrs Israel as an unassuming woman, who felt compelled to care for others.

“She didn’t want recognition for it. I think that deep down, she would probably have liked to have been thanked more than she was. A simple ‘thank you’ from some of the children she cared for would have made an enormous difference.

“Unfortunately, a lot of people didn’t bother. Many did, however, though she didn’t do it for the thanks or the recognition. She simply wanted to help people, she wanted to give a home to the people who hadn’t got one.”

Mrs Israel married and had a daughter of her own, Sally, though she later divorced. Her daughter died in 2008, aged 60.

Mr Pugh said: “The loss of Sally was a huge blow to her.”

Mrs Israel did not keep a record of the number of children she cared for, and it may have actually been considerably higher than 150.

Louise Hughes, of Shrewsbury, was one of her many foster children. She was taken in as a baby, with her sister, Sarah.

She said “I think Mrs Israel kept in touch with children to see how they progressed through life. A lot of them are now either middle aged or elderly.

“She didn’t receive financial compensation during those times, because it wasn’t available. She was very forgiving. With some children, jewellery went missing, but she didn’t mind. She would have given her last penny.

“There would be rules in her house and chores for children to do. She was very straightforward. It was a normal family home, with children coming and going.

“There’d be trips to the seaside and hot dinners every night around the table; we enjoyed a better life than some children who were brought up by their own, biological parents.”

Mrs Hughes added that the story surrounding Mrs Israel’s unwillingness to attend Buckingham Palace to receive her Jubilee Medal in 1977 was characteristic of her.

She said: “She loved the Royal Family, but she just couldn’t imagine stepping away from the kitchen if she needed to cook tea for the children who were with her.

“She was selfless. She cared about her family most, she put them above everything else.”

In 1977, the Shropshire Star asked Mrs Israel why she had chosen to care for so many children. She responded: “Because of the pleasure it gives me.”

It was a typically selfless statement from the women people called ‘mom’.

Mrs Israel’s funeral service was being held this afternoon at Shrewsbury Crematorium. Donations are being divided between the St John Ambulance and the Shrewsbury Branch of the Royal British Legion.