Christine Pattison was 15 when she fell in love with Buddy Holly.

It wasn't reciprocated - he was on stage at the Gaumont in Bradford and schoolgirl Christine was in the crowd.

But the legendary rock-and-roller remained her one true love through a 35-year marriage and the birth of two daughters.

So when she finally had a chance to change her name to his she did.

Christine and her former husband William, a builder, were divorced in 2000 and, after he died in May last year, she decided the time was right to plight her troth to Buddy.

And, since changing her married name by deed poll on September 22, she has been Christine Holly.

The divorce was not caused by Christine's adoration of the singer who died in a plane crash in February 1959.

"My husband Billy always knew I was in love with Buddy even when I married him, but he wasn't bothered," said Christine who lives in Long Lee, Keighley, surrounded by Holly memorabilia.

"He even took me to see the musical Buddy in London in the 1980s," said Christine, She treasures a Buddy Holly plate, singles and LPs as well as her memories of her 1996 visit to Lubbock-Clovis, Texas, Holly's birthplace on what would have been his 60th birthday and where she was made an honorary citizen.

"I will always remember Buddy on stage at the Gaumont. The tickets were four shillings and six pence and I was invited by a friend," said Christine.

"I had heard Buddy on the radio before that and was very excited. I lost my heart to him as soon as he came on stage, all 6ft 2ins of him. He was gorgeous. I don't even remember leaving the theatre.

"I went straight home, went to bed and dreamed about him."

Naturally," Buddy's death is seared in her memory.

She had just left Thornton Grammar School and was working in the pharmacy at Bradford Royal Infirmary when she heard of the tragedy on the radio while having her lunch at home in Girlington.

"I cried all the way back to work. I was so upset that in the middle of the afternoon I was sent home," she said.

"My mum and dad, who were 40 at the time, just didn't understand and when my friend came across she was sent upstairs to try to comfort me. I felt like I'd actually lost my boyfriend."

From then on Christine says she remained "in love" with the singer and continues to play her favourite Holly hit, Words of Love.

"In 1960 I went on holiday to Whitley Bay with my friend and there was a jukebox in a nearby caf and we played that song over and over again," she said.

"I feel that Buddy is singing to me but I think he actually wrote it for his wife Maria."

Christine met Maria in Texas and has her autograph.

And what do her family think?

"They are happy. I'm not being disloyal to Billy who said he wanted me to be happy after his death. And this has made me happy."

e-mail: clive.white @bradford.newsquest.co.uk