LIVING 107 YRS TO THE FULL...

Proud daughter Tracey Perry, who lives in Margate, Kent, tells her story: “Our mother and grandmother Kitty was the daughter of a Downton Abbey-style servant girl.

“The life she eventually went on to lead was in stark contrast to her humble beginnings. She lived through two world wars, 25 prime ministers and four monarchs, and throughout it all, Kitty was a hero to us all.

“Kitty’s mother Amy was born in Derbyshire and worked in service at Buckingham Palace as assistant cook, and then for Sir Oswald Moseley in Ireland. She married James, an electrician, and they had four children – Raymond, William, John, and then finally our mother, Amy Kathleen, in December 1912 in Fulham,

West London.

“Kitty excelled at swimming at school and in 1927, aged 15, she tried out for a place in the British Olympics team.

“Sadly, her friend Dora Gibbing beat her to the touch.

“Kitty went to work as a secretary at the RAF civil office in Chelsea, met George Wells at a dance when she was 19, and married him in December 1933.

“Back then, married women were not allowed to work, so Kitty pretended to be single until she became pregnant with her first daughter Maureen in 1937, and had to leave. David followed two years later and Jacqueline in 1941.

“Now living in Wembley in North London, Kitty worked at a fish stall while George was away serving in the Second World War as a messenger and was at the D-day landings.

“After the war, George went into the hotel business in Margate. It was there in 1961, with a successful business and three children grown up, when they adopted me, their youngest child.

“Kitty moved on to training Alsatian dogs to champion standard, even performing at Crufts with her champion Rebel in front of the Queen.

“Aged 75, Kitty and

George, 77, finally retired in Margate, but sadly George died just one year later. They had been married for

55 years.

“As a widow, Kitty loved to travel with her daughters – hot air ballooning across Kenya, flying to Australia three times and travelling through New Zealand in a tourer.

“She even jet-skied at 92 and went on her last cruise to Spain and Portugal aged 104.

“Through it all, she set an example of adapting to what life throws at us.

“Kitty was our hero.”

George and Kitty with their three eldest children

We build monuments to heroic deeds and brave soldiers, but we rarely hear about the lives of ordinary women. Having reached the grand old age of 107, Amy Kathleen Wells, also known as Kitty, sadly passed away in June from natural causes in the middle of the pandemic. Her death would have gone unnoticed had her family not come forward to tell the story of this remarkable woman… HAPPY With George and, below, her champion Alsatians

DARING Kitty, and on jet-ski aged 92 I’d love to hear readers’ stories about their parents and grandparents, many of whom lived ordinary lives but achieved extraordinary things. Email me at siobhan. mcnally@mirror.co.uk