My wife, Denise Inge, who has died of cancer aged 51, was a passionate champion of Thomas Traherne. Her work on the recently discovered manuscripts of the 17th-century poet and theologian has helped revolutionise his reputation. She once remarked that "readers with imagination fall for Traherne. He takes you on unexpected interior journeys into desire and lack, infinity, time and eternity." The same could be said of Denise herself.
She was born in America, the youngest of five siblings, and grew up in Pennsylvania, where she developed a joy in the natural world to combine with her brilliant intelligence and an unshakable faith in God. She experienced the Bible Belt at its most concentrated when she attended Bob Jones, a Christian university in South Carolina, but she completed her degree at Gordon College, Massachusetts, before coming to England in 1986 to join two of her brothers.
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