An Oswestry woman who moved to America in 1947 will be celebrating her 100 birthday next month.

Dorothy Morgan was born in 1918 June 6, the eldest of a family of six brothers and a sister. They lived in Alexander Road and afterwards moved to Hillside near to Woodside School.

Dorothy worked at The Sugar King grocery store in Church Street, Oswestry before the Second World War. During the war she worked as a bus conductress on one of the local bus services. It was towards the end of the war in 1944 she met and fell in love with Fred Friend, an officer in the American Army, based at Halston Hall camp in Whittington. On August 23 1945 Dorothy and Fred were married at Oswald Road Presbyterian Church, now an Italian restaurant.

At the end of the conflict, Fred still in the army was posted to Berlin attached to General Eisenhower staff. Dorothy went with him and remained there for the next two years.

In 1947 they moved to America to live in Fred's home, city of Philadelphia. Fred died in 1933, Dorothy remained at their home in Levitown in the Delaware valley. Near to her son Freddie Junior and daughter Suzanne. Dorothy visited Oswestry many times over the years to visit friends and family. Her friends George and Freda Davies who lived in College Road, were always included, their daughter Pauline and her husband David Bound were invited to visit Philadelphia in the early 1970s and have paid a number of visits over the years. They were last over in 2016 for Dorothys 98th birthday.

David Bound said: "Dorothy still lives on her own and is able to shop and look after herself, although her daughter is there to support and keep an eye on her. Dorothy regularly calls for a chat and is always interested in what's going on in Oswestry.

"For many years her mother sent a copy of the Advertizer to her. An effort was made to see if a 100th birthday card from the queen was possible, but as Dorothy had taken out American citizenship, this precluded her being eligible."