A RETIRED civil servant with a passion for travel, gardening and photography, Muriel Patricia Lovelace, died at her Whippingham home, on January 26, aged 97.
Known as Patricia, Mrs Lovelace, of Folly Lane, was born in Hampstead, London, on May 31, 1919.
Mrs Lovelace, of Folly Lane, left school aged 16 and passed her exams for entry into the Civil Service.
By the time war broke out in 1939, she had married Clive Lovelace.
During the war years, they both worked in the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and Mrs Lovelace worked as a welder, supporting the war effort.
Her husband died in 1981.
Mrs Lovelace worked as a local government officer in South East London while raising her family and, following her retirement in 1979, she provided accommodation for international students.
She became friends with many of them and kept in touch after they left England, even taking up the invitations of some students to visit them in their home countries.
A keen traveller, she visited many countries, which included Australia, Fiji, Zambia, Kuwait, the United States and her favourite, Mexico. She also had a passion for the countryside, ever since she was given her first bicycle when she was aged 12.
Having been a regular visitor to the Island to stay with her retired parents in Newbridge, she moved to the Island in 1993, and, as a keen gardener, won prizes for her front garden.
She had a lifelong passion for photography and was skilled in all forms of needlework and knitting.
As well as her her six children, Mrs Lovelace leaves her nine grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.
A graveside funeral service, followed by interment, will be held at the Fernhill Park Woodland Burial Grounds, Wootton, at 1pm today (Friday).