Four generations of women from the same close-knit Kirkby family have paid tribute to the "amazing" great-great-grandmother who started their legacy.
Edith Dears, 95, was born during the reign of King George V, and has lived through World War II, the birth of the Republic of Ireland, the appointment of Britain's first woman prime minister, the turn of the milliennium, and a deadly pandemic - to name just a few.
She also helped raise four other generations of women: daughter Linda Hughes, 74, granddaughter Susan Clarke, 49, great-granddaughter Lois Clarke, 35, and great-great-granddaughter Nevaeh, eight.
READ MORE: 'Disappointed' couple leave Liverpool Christmas markets after 20 minutes
Lois said: "She's always been a queen to us. My mum was only 17 when she had me, so she sort of helped raise me along with my nan. She's been a huge presence in our lives, and we all look up to her massively."
Edith, who worked in an ammunitions factory on Kirkby industrial estate during the war, had a difficult start in life. After her father died when she was just four-years-old, she was sent to live at The Railway Orphanage in Derby with her older sister Jesse (now a spritely 98), and brother Ernie, who died in 2010 at the age of 90. A younger brother, Jimmy, died in 2014, aged 83.
Lois said: "She used to tell me stories, she was always the naughty one and Jesse was the good one. She was well behaved, and my granny was forever getting shouted at."
Edith's daughter Linda said: "She liked going to school in Derby and when it came to it she didn't want to leave. There was no money, there was nothing. They were well fed in the orphanage with regular meals. She got taken out every Sunday by a well-to-do family. Once she came out of the orphanage, they got a house in Breck Road, Everton, and she went to live there with her mum, sister and brothers."
When she was just 18, Edith married Billy Dears, and the couple had five children, including daughter Irene, who died when she was just two.
Linda said: "There was no money around and you had to pay to visit a doctor in those days. I can remember we lived off Breck Road in a one-room flat in a big house, and we had to share a cooker with the whole landing. My dad was constantly going to the landlords to complain about it, and eventually it just exploded in my mum's face one day!
"We moved to Kirkby when I was five, in 1953, and she's been there ever since. Sadly she was widowed when she was 43. She brought all her children up on her own and did a brilliant job with looking after us all."
Lois, who runs a women-only gym in Aintree, said: "She's the most powerful woman I think I've ever come across. She lost her husband and brought up her kids alone, and she used to say: one man's enough, I don't need another. She never wanted anyone else. He worshipped her.
"She always instilled in me the need to believe in myself, that women are strong and we can do whatever we put our minds to. It sounds cheesy but it's the way she brought us up. I work with women every day and I love nothing more than to help them become stronger and achieve their goals. It's something I want to instil in my own daughter.
"Edith has had Alzheimers for the past few years. She'll have bad days and good days as she gets towards the end of her life. It's been a long journey and we're all supportive, we love her to bits and we want to be there with her.
"She has gone back to her childhood at the moment, and that's why all these memories of the orphanage are coming out now. Physically she's amazing, with the bloods of a 70-year-old. She's a real fighter. She always wanted to get a telegram off the Queen."
READ NEXT:
First picture of man with 'gentle soul' found dead after burglary
Nurse stabbed after alarm failed in middle of attack by patient
Find the coins hidden on the ECHO website for the chance to win a £200 voucher
Little girl had 'innocence taken away' after being abused on birthday
The world's biggest Hooters is open in Liverpool with wings, tiny shorts and a dash of feminism
