Tributes have poured in to remember a beloved grandmother who was a well-known barmaid in Fleetwood.
Mary Moleata Lowe, known simply as Leata by many who knew her, lived in her Fleetwood home for nearly 70 years. She was brought up on Radcliffe Road as one of nine siblings and grew to have a large family of five herself.
Leata started working in a pillow factory when he children had started getting older, before becoming a cleaner at The Mount pub and then a barmaid there, as well as in the Euston Hotel. Speaking to LancsLive, Leata’s youngest daughter Wendy Lowe spoke about her mum’s legacy working in Fleetwood pubs, she said: “She was always well thought of, if anyone was being bad in the pub she would hoof them out.
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“She wasn’t afraid of getting in there.”
As one of nine siblings, Wendy says her mum spent a lot of time with her sisters and even worked with her Auntie Cath in the pub she worked at.
She added: “She was always smartly dressed, she liked designer clothes and always used to have beautiful blouses and skirts when she worked behind the bar. She just loved her family, she never really wanted to go on holidays or anything like that. She was very family orientated. Everything she did was for her family.”
Leata was 88 when she passed away on November 3. She leaves behind her four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. She also had five children herself, but one of her daughters sadly passed away several years ago.
Her husband, Kenneth also lost his life in 1999. As she lived on her own, Wendy and her brother looked after Leata as her health declined from a stroke seven years ago.
Wendy continued: “She had given up to be honest, she was getting old. She’d stopped eating and taking medication, she had just given up. She wanted to be with my sister.”
After the news of her passing hit, many took to social media to pay tribute to the beloved grandmother who was well-known in the Fleetwood area. For Wendy, many people have spoken of her mum, remembering her warm smile in particular
“People used to say your mum’s got such a lovely smile, it lights up a room,” Wendy adds. “Even in the hospital, anywhere she went – they’d say oh what a lovely smile.”
Remembering Leata at pubs, one Facebook user commented on Wendy’s post about her mum writing: “Sending you my deepest condolences I remember your mum working in the North Euston one of the best barmaids. Don’t make them like her anymore.”
Another said: “I’m so sorry to hear the sad news about your lovely mum leata. I have fond memories of walking home with her after a shift at the Euston and her two cats would be waiting on the corner of her street for their packet of pork scratchings.”
Leata’s funeral will take place on Tuesday, 21 November at 3.30pm at Carlton Crematorium.
