A GREAT-grandmother who was at the heart of village life for more than 70 years has died aged 97.
Florence Smith, known as Flo, had lived in North Weald High Road since her marriage in 1939, moving to Cunningham House care home in Pike Way in 2007.
She worked at the News Shop opposite her home for nearly 50 years, only retiring three months before her 90th birthday.
Her daughter-in-law Lesley Smith, 61, said: “She’d worked there since my husband Brian was 11 until she was 89, when she decided she should leave it.
“She put us all to shame with her mental arithmetic skills and when they had new tills put in at the shop, she was the one who showed everyone how to use them.
“She was very interested in people’s lives. Everybody said she was very kind and thoughtful.”
As well as working for so long, she also played darts for the North Weald Ladies' team until she was well into her 80s, only stopping because of her arthritis.
She sold poppies for the Royal British Legion for 40 years and was made a lifetime member when she retired at 90.
Also a keen cook, she made big family meals and wedding cakes for her sons Brian and Graham and her four grandchildren, as well as winning prizes for her baking entries at North Weald Show seven years in a row during the 1950s.
“She was a very talented cake maker,” said Mrs Smith. “They used to have dinners at the Women’s Institute in north Weald and she would take over her cooking.
“When she was still living at home, when people would do things at the house for her, she would reward them with a home-made apple pie.”
Her husband, Henry, was joint owner of Cottis Hardware, which was in Epping High Street, and they spent their 49 year marriage in North Weald High Road, only moving out briefly in 1941 when a German bomb exploded in their garden.
Mr Smith died in 1987 and Mrs Smith tended the large garden, growing fruit and vegetables, until she was nearly 90.
As well as her sons, grandchildren and other relatives, she also leaves four great-grandchildren.
Her funeral is due to take place on Friday (June 1) from 12.15pm at Parndon Wood Crematorium in Harlow and the cortege is expected to pass The Kings Head in North Weald at 11.35am.
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