Claire Louise Dyer Rodriquez was born in 1974 and grew up in Grove Park. She then moved to Woolwich in her teens, before settling in Eltham.
She was famous for her generosity, but did not have the easiest start in life.
She coped with a life-long illness called Klippel-Trénaunay Syndrome (KTS) forcing her to have a leg amputated at the age of 18.
Doctors advised her not to have children, but she defied the warnings and had two daughters Hayley and Mia at 26 and 30.
Claire became a striking and well-known figure around the Coldharbour Estate in her blue scooter with a basket.
Hayley said: “My mum bless her heart. She was quite a notorious person in the area. You would be able to see my mom from a mile away.
She would not leave the house without her “warpaint”, stiletto high-heeled boots, sunglasses, makeup and perfume “to the point where you’d be coughing because there’d be so much”.
Hayley said: “Her energy was, people are going to stare. People will stare because she just doesn’t have a leg. And she’s like, if people are going to stare, I want them to have something to stare at. I want to look good.”
“It was quite hard to miss mum, to be honest.”
But more than her glamour, Claire was known in the area for her kindness.
“This woman, my mum, I may be biased but she genuinely was the most amazing woman in the world”, said Hayley.
“It never mattered the background, you know, race, gender, religion, any of that.
“She’s always been so welcoming to anyone. As long as you come with the energy of being nice and respectful, that will come back tenfold.
“My mum would do anything for anyone. We didn’t have the greatest amounts of money, but if there was any advice that you needed, my mum was there to help.”
This could have been helping run fairs at Montbelle Primary School, reuniting lost children with their parents, or giving advice from her career as a civil servant.
Claire used her passion for crochet to make children’s clothes “for no-one in particular”, but dreaming of one day donating them to sick children.
But for Hayley, she will always remember her as the best mother.
She said: “She was genuinely the funniest lady I’ve ever met. She was so supportive, so enthusiastic about our lives.
“She just loved the fact that she had two girls. She was made to be a mum. She was always so kind. I loved that woman.”
Even when Hayley moved to Manchester, Claire would be researching from a distance and helping however she could.
However, Claire’s health issues became more serious and frequent and in the last year she was increasingly in and out of hospital.
“She was just kind of deteriorating and stuff. But even then, even though she had no energy, she still managed to put a smile on her face.”
Claire passed due to sepsis on September 25, 2025.
But the kindness that Claire embodied did fade. Faced with high funeral costs, Hayley has been blown away by the response to a GoFundMe fundraiser she launched.
Hayley said: “It makes so much sense as to why so many people have donated because she was just genuinely the most generous person that I’ve ever met.”
“I knew that there would be people that would want to help the same way they’d been helped by my mum.”
Hayley hopes to fulfill Claire’s dream by donating the clothes her mother knitted to a hospital in Manchester.
Hayley said: “She always wanted to do it but she never had the chance. So, this is something that I’m finding comfort in knowing that I can fulfil that wish for her.”
Claire is survived by her two daughters, Hayley and Mia, and husband Dennis.
