A LAND Army veteran who kept her door open to people in the village where she lived for more than 50 years has died.
Sue Andrewes lived at Chestnut Lodge in Manor Road, High Beech, where she was often seen on her bike, delivering the village newsletter or exploring the forest with her husband Richard, who died in 1998.
Her son, Clive Andrewes, 61, said: “It was quite a well-known house. Her gate and front door would always be wide open.
“She made friends down the generations. She had some children knock on the door for a glass of water in the 1960s and gave them some lemon squash.
“Every time they came up to walk after that, the whole family would start to come in for lemon squash and that went on about 40 years.”
Mrs Andrewes grew up in Sussex, moving to Devon, then Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire to serve in the Land Army, which she was only formally recognised for in 2008.
She worked as nurse at St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping and Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone during the 1960s and 1970s, writing a book on patients' recovery from anaesthetics, despite having dyslexia.
She moved to the Retired Nurses National Home in Bournemouth in 2009 and died on April 23 aged 91. As well as Clive, she leaves another son, Julian.
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