Indomitable Dorothy was "remarkably gallant" (From Salisbury Journal)

Indomitable Dorothy was "remarkably gallant"

2:21pm Monday 4th April 2011 in News By Morwenna Blake

AN indomitable woman who was never without a touch of glamour, even in her 80s, has died at the age of 88.

Dorothy Freak was born in a First World War Army hut at Larkhill on June 26, 1922, the second of four children of Sidney and Dorothy Butt.

Her father worked for the Military Exchange at Bulford and Dolly, as she was affectionately known, was raised in Salisbury, with the family making their home at Laverstock Road.

During the Second World War she worked at a Spitfire Factory and at the sorting office in Salisbury.

Her brief wartime marriage ended in divorce and she returned to live with her parents as a single, working mother with two young daughters, Rosemary and Carol.

In 1951 they moved to Olivier Close, Bemerton Heath, and in 1957 she moved with her daughters and widowed father to Talbot Close.

She worked in Robert Stokes, was manageress of the Corner Café in Endless Street and was the catering manager at Southampton University before moving to Bournemouth, where she married Eddie Freak 1977.

Known as Dolly in her early years, Burdie to her work colleagues in Salisbury, Dottie and Doctor Dot in Bournemouth, her daughter Rosemary Wyeth said she was always ready with a smile and a joke. Despite increasing ill health in her later years she carried on smiling and insisted on keeping hold of her heels and lipstick, having always been instructed by her mother to try to look her best.

Mrs Wyeth said: “She was a remarkably gallant lady who left an indelible impression on everyone she met.”

Mrs Freak died at home on Wednesday, March 30.

As well as her husband and daughters she is survived by grandsons Peter and Paul and great granddaughter Emma.

The funeral service will be held at Bournemouth Crematorium at 3pm on April 7.