A RESPECTED community figure and shop owner has died just two months short of her 99th birthday.

Patricia Popplewell, 98, who passed away at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, after a chest infection, was a former president of the Epping Inner Wheel and well-known as the wife of Bob Popplewell who owned Popplewell Coachworks, in Thornwood.

Mrs Popplewell was a business owner in her own right and used to run Patricia's Patisseries, in Theydon Bois, before opening a ladies' clothes shop in Buckhurst Hill.

She was born in 1911, in Scotland, to Patti and Albert (Vic) Grenville who were descended from a long line of aristocratic figures.

Among her forebears were Sir Roger Grenville the captain of the Mary Rose and Sir Richard Grenville, former Governor of Calais.

Her family moved to Manor Park, London, before the First World War where her grandparents owned a number of chemists. In those days, the area was semi-rural.

She met and married Bob in the mid-1930s and they moved to Epping during the Second World War where Bob would open his first business, which included selling parts for spitfires, in a wooden building behind the old Half Moon pub in Epping High Street.

He would later open another business in Hemnall Street, before setting up Popplewell Coachworks, in Thornwood, which he later sold.

Mrs Popplewell moved to Alderton Hill, in Loughton, around the late 1940s where she was renowned for the large marquee-based garden parties she would host.

She lived there for almost all her remaining life until she moved to Lugano care home, in Buckhurst Hill, four years ago.

Her eldest nephew Peter Pearson, 71, of Great Horkesley near Colchester, said: “She was the life and soul of the party with a large circle of friends.

“She was very outgoing, and a very generous and caring person. She had two or three parties a year at Christmas and birthdays, and she always gave out nice presents at Christmas time. I remember we went to her house in '53 to watch the coronation.”

Mr Pearson said his aunt was well known for her dancing talent adding: “I took her out on her 90th birthday and she could still do high kicks and twirls. You would have thought she was in her 50s not her 90s.”

Trevor Johnson, 65, of Malmesbury Road, South Woodford, knew Mrs Popplewell through her and her husband's work at Epping Rotary Club and was a close friend.

He said: “She was a very lovely lady with a colourful dress sense, and very active. She was very talkative. You couldn't keep up with her at times.”

Mrs Popplewell had no children but is survived by her sisters Aileen, 95, and Maisie 93. She also had a third sister Kathleen, and was married to Bob for over 60 years before his death in 2001.

Her funeral service will take place at St John's Church, in Church Lane, Loughton, Thursday, July 29 at 2 pm.