FORMER Wolvercote pub landlady and mother of five children Edna Pettifer has died, aged 94.

Mrs Pettifer worked for the majority of her life as landlady at the White Hart pub in the village, where she made sandwiches, tidied the bedrooms and tended to the fireplace – which she preferred to being behind the bar.

A mother of five children, when her husband Gilbert Pettifer died at the age of 52 she had no choice but to start working behind the bar.

But her children said she took to it like “a duck to water”.

Edna May Hastings was born on December 1, 1920, in Wolvercote to railway worker and father Henry, known as Harry, and mother Kate Drew, who died when Mrs Pettifer was a child.

She also had one brother, named Ernest, and two sisters named Hilda and Kathleen who have all now passed away.

Following his wife’s death, Harry Hastings remarried while his children were young and he and his new wife then became the landlord and landlady of the White Hart.

During the Second World War Mrs Pettifer spent time in service, working for a doctor and his wife in North Oxford.

But once the war was over she met and married Gilbert John Pettifer, and the couple started living together in Wolvercote.

In 1948, aged 28, Mrs Pettifer started working for her father and stepmother at the White Hart in Godstow Road, remaining there for the rest of her working life.

During those years she also raised five children – Colin, Roy, Anthony, Sheila and Clive.

Mrs Pettifer’s father died in the early 1960s and his wife, Nellie, carried on running the pub before retiring a few years later.

It was at this time that Mr and Mrs Pettifer took over as landlord and landlady.

Her family described Mrs Pettifer as a strong and determined lady who worked hard all of her full and active life.

She was said to have met and made many friends during her long association with the White Hart and would tour Oxfordshire with the pub’s ladies darts team.

Despite the pub keeping her busy nearly all the time, Mrs Pettifer’s outside hobbies included darts, gardening and knitting.

She also loved animals and had a number of cats over the years, as well as a dog, appropriately called Whiskey.

Her husband died in 1972, aged 52, and Mrs Pettifer carried on running the pub until her retirement in 1990.

Her brother Ernest, who lived at the pub, moved with her when Mrs Pettifer retired to a house in Cutteslowe, where they both liked tending to their garden, spending time with their many cats and two dogs, Fred and Sarah, and enjoying family visits.

She also loved to take short holidays to see family members and would often visit her son Colin in Devon, her daughter Sheila in Barnsley and her son Roy in Swindon.

Ernest died in 1995 and Mrs Pettifer’s youngest son Clive came to live with her and care for her as she grew older.

In failing health, she moved into nursing care last year and died on Tuesday, September 15.

Mrs Pettifer is survived by her five children, nine grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Her funeral will take place on Wednesday at 2.15 pm at Oxford Crematorium.