One Mayor of Bourne has died in office. He was Richard Reeve who was more than half way through his term of office when in January 1987, he was rushed to the Peterborough District Hospital after swallowing paraquat at his home in Mill Drove and died ten days later in the intensive care unit. He was 50 years old.

Mr Reeve had been a town councillor since 1979. He was born at Market Deeping but moved to Bourne with his family when a baby and was subsequently educated at Stamford School. He served with the Fleet Air Arm for 12 years and then returned to the town to set up in business as an electrical contractor. During his mayoral year, he had been raising money to help the youth of the town and had already passed the target figure of £3,000.

He was on the committee of Bourne Youth Centre and was also a member of the Royal British Legion in Bourne, the local Lions Club and a founder of the Bourne Caledonian Society for Scots living in the district. His most lasting achievement was in re-launching the Chamber of Trade and Commerce, acting as vice-chairman and publicity officer, and the organisation survives to this day.

He was also an active supporter of the town twinning with Doudeville and made several successful visits to France to help seal the partnership. Mr Reeve was married to Ina, a close marriage and partnership of 13 years, and he was devastated when she died suddenly of a heart attack at their home in Mill Drove in September 1986 at the age of 46, while serving as his mayoress. He never recovered from the loss.

Hundreds attended both funerals at the Abbey Church, including many mayors and councillors from neighbouring authorities. During Mrs Reeve's funeral service on Friday 12th September 1986, her last wish was fulfilled when a lone piper, Pipe Major Pat Lee, of the Stamford Pipe Band, played Amazing Grace at the graveside, thus acknowledging her Scottish roots and her work with the Caledonian Society in Bourne.

At the service for Mr Reeve, on Tuesday 3rd February 1987, the mayoral chain of office was carried on the coffin until interment at Bourne cemetery where he was buried alongside his wife.