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Popular PE horticultural expert dies Herald ReporterPOPULAR Port Elizabeth horticultural expert Gwen Skinner, 87, has died. Mrs Skinner died in hospital on Thursday after a short illness. She was born in Norfolk in Britain and moved to South Africa as a young girl and developed a keen interest in the local plant life, a close friend said last night. She was married to accountant Len Skinner, who died a number of years ago. The couple had two sons, Brian, a Fair Isle harbour master, and Colin, a Port Elizabeth banker. She was involved in a number of organisations, but her first love – the art of bonsai – saw her start the EP Bonsai Society. A top class amateur botanist, she began the Atalaya branch of the local Dendrological Society, of which she was chairman for a number of years. She was a founding member of the Wildlife Society and chairman of the EP Wild Flower Society and the Eastern Province Mountain Club of South Africa. She was honoured for her involvement with the Van Stadens Wild Flower Reserve. A bench in the reserve was named after her. Mrs Skinner’s friend, Ruby Cadle, described her as a “very independent, positive, strong personality”. The funeral takes place at St John the Baptist Anglican Church in Walmer at 2pm today.
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