Tributes paid to Wellington restaurant owner Rita, 83
A popular family restaurant owner in Wellington has died peacefully at the age of 83.
Rita Sterlini died at home in Wellington.
Miss Sterlini ran the Square Cafe in Wellington with her mother Maria and her sister Matilda from leaving school until the family closed the business in 1982.
Today family paid tribute to Miss Sterlini, who died on January 28
Sister Matilda said: "There will be a lot of people in the town who will remember her.
"People will remember her as keeping the Square restaurant in Wellington, it was a very well known coffee house and restaurant and the family had been in the square since 1939.
"I will miss her dreadfully and she will also be really missed by family and friends."
Her mother Maria left Italy in 1921 and lived in Wales for some years before moving to Wellington in 1938. She died in 1987.
Wellington Town Councillor Phil Morris-Jones, the town's deputy mayor, spoke of his sadness at the news of the death.
Councillor Morris-Jones said: "She was a typical Italian girl, full of enjoyment and she used to love to go dancing and everything.
"I remember her way back from the original Wellington Chamber of Commerce in the 60s when she was one of the very first members and she kept the cafe in the square in Wellington.
"She was always bubbly she was a really lively girl, I have never known that girl being anything other than bubbly, full of fun and full of laughter and she was always the same when she was serving the customers in the cafe, she used to treat every customer as if it where her friend.
"As a member of the Chamber of Commerce, she was always happy to be social secretary there or help with the organisation of the events and the annual dinner and in those days that was a really big thing.
"The cafe was very popular, it always had the latest coffees of the day served in there. She always used to stand by the door and welcome people in and the family would never close it when there was anyone there in Wellington who would want a cup of coffee, it was a great place.
"I am very sorry to hear she has gone."
Miss Sterlini leaves her sister. The funeral takes place on Thursday at 1.30pm at St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in Wellington.
