SNODLAND’S oldest resident has died, aged 105.

Edith Kathleen Styles, who had lived in Snodland for almost 70 years, died on Wednesday of last week.

Born in Bexley on December 13, 1902, Mrs Styles (nee Filmer) lived in Rocfort Road, Snodland, before moving into Frindsbury Hall Care Home, near Strood, in November after a stroke.

She spent her childhood in Cliffe, near Rochester, and married her first husband, Alfred Hagger, in 1929.

The couple, with first son Robert, lived in India between 1936 and 1939, where Mr Hagger served with the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars. Their daughter Valerie, now 69, was born there.

The family moved to Colchester and then Snodland in 1940. Mr Hagger died in 1948, and Mrs Styles married James Styles in 1956. He died in 1997. Son Robert, 72, described his mother as "an exceptional old lady" who always believed "honesty was the best policy".

He said: "After her stroke she was disabled and was not having a lot of fun. Now she is at peace. Of course we will miss her, I used to go and see her every other day." A keen ballroom dancer, she was still dancing at the age of 95.

She enjoyed travelling in her later years, and flew for the first time to Canada to visit her eldest son, Roy, at 75.

Mrs Styles leaves nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

Her funeral is at Vinters Park Crematorium, Maidstone,from 3.30pm today, Friday, February 1.