TRIBUTES have been paid to a devoted great-grandmother and popular Chester woman who died just two days before reaching her 100th birthday.
Kathleen Tranter of Moss Bank, Parkgate Road, died suddenly but peacefully on September 2 after living and working in Chester all her life.
Known to many as Kath, the 99-year-old will be remembered for her passion for designing and making countless wedding, bridesmaid and evening dresses over the years, including the bridesmaid’s dresses for her granddaughter Pippa when she was 87 years old.
Devoted mother to Diana, mother- in-law to Chris, grandma to Simon, Pippa, Nick and Mandy, and great-grandmother to Laura, Moa, Peter, Thomas, James, Ben and Finley, Kath will be sadly missed by her many friends and all that knew her.
Kath attended the Queen’s School in Chester, where she first met her future husband Frank Tranter, who attended Chester Boys College, when she bumped into him while she was rushing to school when she was just seven years old.
For several years Kath worked at Browns of Chester before marrying Frank, then a well known auctioneer and jazz musician with The Palm Beach Orchestra, in December 1983 and moving to Dodleston Lane, Pulford, where they housed families during the war.
After 11 years of marriage Kath and Frank adopted a baby girl, Janet Elizabeth, in 1945 and in October 1949 their daughter Diana was born.
Tragically when she was just 10 years old Janet died during a road accident and just a year later Frank passed away when he was just 52, leaving Kath devastated.
She moved to Hoole, where she made many friends playing bridge and card games, working well into her 70s in a well-known jewellers Bernard Walsh’s in Chester Precinct and was a member of the Conservative Party becoming vice president of the Women’s Advisory which she campaigned for many years.
In 2002, when she was 90, Kath moved to a retirement home, Arkle Court in Vicars Cross, before moving to Oaklands Nursing Home in Littleton in 2010 due to failing health before her sudden death last week.
Kath’s funeral will take place on Tuesday, September 20, at St Mary’s, Church, Handbridge.
