Tributes have been paid to a "very kind and special lady" from Bridport who has passed away just one month after her 100th birthday.
Joyce Shepherd has been described as a "selfless, kind and gentle lady" who eventually made her home in Merseyside but was always "proud of her Dorset roots."
She learned many skills from her mother such as cooking, baking and knitting but excelled in her gardening, leading to a long running joke in the family that Joyce could "plant a walking stick and make it grow."
She later moved to Skilling and was educated at Allington and St. Mary’s schools.
As a young girl, she enjoyed an active lifestyle, swimming off West Bay, walking the clifftop paths over to Eype and cycling with her friends to Lyme Regis.
Her son-in-law, Brian Johnson, said she was very nostalgic of her times in Bridport and loved the community.
"Everyone knew Joyce as a selfless, kind funny and gentle lady who was everyone’s friend."
Leaving school at 15, she started working as a net maker at Edwards factory but just a year later her tranquil and simple way of life was shattered by the outbreak of the Second World War.
Production at the factory switched from tennis and fishing nets to camouflage nets for covering tanks, military vehicles and aircrafts.
In the midst of war, Joyce met her soon-to-be husband Charlie at a dance in Bridport's Drill Hall.
Mr Shepherd was a young soldier who went on to be part of the battle of Dunkirk and was involved in the D-Day landings.
After the war she followed Charlie back to his home town of St Helens in Merseyside where they started their family. She had two children, three grand children and three great grand children.
Mrs Shepherd died on August 30. A funeral service was held at St Mark's Church in St Helens with first and second generation relatives travelling from Bridport to pay their respects.
Her niece Eira Tuck, who lives in Bridport, said, “Our auntie Joyce loved to come back to Bridport every year to meet up with family and re-visit the places she treasured here.
“She managed to carry on doing this right up to the age of 95.
“My auntie was a loving, generous and talented lady who was always interested in others and one of the last of that great war time generation.
“She will be sadly missed by everyone who knew her in Bridport.”
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