A varied life ends for popular Rustington woman Vera, 100

Vera Tatem, 100, of Rustington Hall, in Station Road, died at the home on Thursday (October 3).

Her only child Douglas, said: “She was very popular, always cheerful and a great inspiration to her family, her many friends and acquaintances and all who had the pleasure of knowing her.”

Vera, who celebrated her 100th birthday in February, was born in south London, in 1913. During her life, she lived through two world wars, survived being bombed twice and watched man land on the moon. She married in her late husband Norman 1937 before moving to Petts Wood, Kent, just prior to the outbreak of the second world war.

In 1943, the family home was levelled when a Luftwaffe bomb hit the house. Then, not long after the first bomb, the second home they were renting was damaged by bombing. She moved to Rustington in the 1960s and was a member of the Women’s Institute, often playing piano for the group.

She has three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Her funeral is at the Worthing Crematorium, on Wednesday, at 2.20pm.

The family has asked that flowers aren’t brought to the funeral and that a donation is made to their chosen charity.