A retired major in the Salvation Army was remembered by members, friends and family this week.
Major Patricia Bowthorpe, who lived alone in Regina Road, West Ealing, passed away on January 11 at Meadow House Hospice in the Uxbridge Road.
Ms Bowthorpe, who would have celebrated her 85th birthday on February 24, was cremated at Breakspear Crematorium in Ruislip on Tuesday (January 21) before loved ones gathered for a service at the Greenford Salvation Army headquarters in Costons Lane.
Ms Bowthorpe, who was with the Salvation Army since the age of 18, had suffered from myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow, for quite a few years and was in and out of Ealing hospital before she died.
Her niece, Jane Ratcliffe, of Stratford Upon Avon, said: “She had been quite unwell for about a year.
“What Patricia liked about the Salvation Army was being part of a family because she never married – so it was her life really.
“She was extremely independent, an ordered person with a good sense of humour and a strong minded character.
“She was very musical and liked singing. She had a huge amount of life experience; a colourful life.”
The late 84-year-old was a major for 20 years, spending a lot of time abroad on missions in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, including time in orphanages and working with blind children.
She worked at the Ealing Salvation Army shop, which only closed in December, for a number of years and dedicated plenty of her time towards promoting the Salvation Army ethos and mission.
Ms Bowthorpe leaves behind her sister and Mrs Ratcliffe’s 83-year-old mother Liz Pepperell, an 80-year-old brother John Bowchorpe, and five nieces including Mrs Ratcliffe.
She also had a younger sister, Barbara McDonnell, who died five years ago aged 74.
