Author of family memoir dies at 94

An author whose memoir became a local bestseller has died aged 94.

Just weeks ago Rita Greendale was signing copies of her book I Should Live So Long – Short Recollections of a Long Life at Waterstones in the city.

The book, which has sold hundreds of copies, went back to the late 1800s when her grandparents, who were Polish Jews, arrived at Hull Pier with just her father, still a small child, bedding and a pair of brass candlesticks.

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Mrs Greendale followed her father into the retail trade and ran her own business as well as working for Hull grocery firm William Coussons as a manageress, only retiring at the age of 80.

She was a member of a creative writing group based at the University of Hull for a decade and for 14 years helped children at Adelaide Primary learn to read.

Her volunteering was honoured this summer when she was invited to meet the Queen at a garden party at Buckingham Palace.

The book not only proved a success, but the publicity from it ended up putting her back in touch with long-scattered members of her family.

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Her tutor Peter Didsbury, who edited the book, said: "She had a reprint. She sold getting on for 350 copies which for a book of that type is really unusual and it was very well received.

"She was a natural writer. She had a natural gift for story-telling.

"She was a very, very generous person and a friend of many, many people. I feel quite honoured that she was a friend for the last few years. She will be sorely missed."

Helen West, from Read It Together, who wrote to the Honours and Appointment Secretariat nominating Mrs Greendale, said: "She was our oldest volunteer. She was a wonderful, loveable person, who always had stories to tell."

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