Tributes paid to Hartlepool ‘super gran’ who lived through Second World War and Covid

Catherine ‘Kitty’ Dixon tackled multiple challenges from a young age but never lost her spirit and positive outlook on life.

The remarkable grandmother-of-five passed away in Hartlepool on June 12 at the age of 98 and her son, Nick Dixon, 59, has paid tribute to his “determined” and “independent” mother.

Nick said: “She was a very determined lady. She always put her family first. Whatever life threw at her, she would get on with it.”

Kitty was born in 1922 in Hartlepool’s Olive Street and was raised by her grandparents after her parents, Edward Fortune and Mary (Polly) Cox, died when Kitty was just two.

In 1939, she moved to London to work in a shop before returning to Hartlepool in early September just a day before the Second World War started.

When she was 19, Kitty volunteered to work at Aycliffe Munitions Factory and made detonators.

At that point, she had already met future husband, William Dixon, although the couple spent the war separated while he was away at the Royal Navy as a lieutenant in the engine room.

Entrepreneur Nick said: "She said they just got on with it. They never thought they would lose. Everybody was coming together to win it.

William and Kitty married on January 29, 1945 at St Oswald’s Church.

The couple were together until William died in 2012 and had three children, Christine, 70, Nick, 59 and Ian, who passed away in 2014 at the age of 66.

Nick, who now lives in Devon, has said Kitty was a very “devoted” grandmother.

He added: "She was absolutely devoted. Even when she was 86 she would hop on a train down to London.

The father-of-four added: "My kids would call her super gran, because nothing seemed to stop her. Whatever ailment she had, she worked through it.

"She was very independent. She had a great sense of humour as well. She was very positive. She wouldn’t stand any nonsense from anybody.”

Kitty, who contracted Covid at the start of the pandemic, but was asymptomatic, spent the final 16 months of her life at Stitchell House Care Home in Gretham.

Her family is raising funds for the care home.

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