SHE ruled the roost with strict, traditional values, but was always "lovely with it", say her family.
Tributes have been paid to matriarch Jean Little, a mother of nine, grandmother of 27, great-grandmother of 37 and great-great-grandmother of three.
Mrs Little, of east Hull, died from heart failure at the age of 87, last Saturday.
Jillian Little, one of her seven daughters, led tributes to her mother, who had time for them all.
She said: "Our mum ruled, but she was always lovely with it. Her word was law and that applied all the way to the end.
"Me and my sisters would call her Queen Jean.
"She was strict, but she and our dad brought us up very well.
"None of us ever went without."
Mrs Little juggled her family life with manual work.
"One of my earliest memories of mum is her coming home with her fingers bleeding from working in a Hull brazil nut factory," said Miss Little, 62.
"She also worked for more than a decade at Tower Grange Police Station in Holderness Road, where she was a cleaner."
Mrs Little married husband John, who served in the Merchant Navy during the war, on July 21, 1945, at the Church of Ascension in Priory Road, west Hull.
Mr Little died at the age of 80 in 2003.
"Both our parents worked really hard their whole lives to provide for the family," said Miss Little.
"Dad was on a ship that was sunk by a German torpedo in the war.
"He couldn't swim, but survived by clinging on to some debris.
"After the war he worked as a fitter's mate for Brigham Cowan on Hull's docks.
"He would crawl underneath boats and clean the hull."
Having such a large family meant sacrifices for her parents, said Miss Little.
"Mum and dad did not dress very well," she said. "They couldn't afford to, because all their money was spent on us.
"We all had our Sunday best."
Despite money being short, the family always had a week's break each summer to the East Yorkshire coast.
Mrs Little could always account for her children's whereabouts, even when they reached young adulthood.
Miss Little said: "Even when I was 19 years old, I had to be in for 9pm.
"If any of us were ever late, we'd find mum or dad standing at the gate in the front garden.
"How many minutes late we were would be knocked off the next day."
Until a couple of years ago when Mrs Little's health began to fail, the entire family would meet up each Boxing Day.
"We would hire a hall, usually in east Hull, and everyone would get together," said Miss Little.
"Mum wasn't much of a talker. She would just be happy sitting surrounded by her family."
Miss Little believes her strict upbringing has served her well in life.
She said: "Looking back now, our parents' strictness and good old- fashioned values put us all in very good stead for the rest of our lives.
"None of us have ever been in a police station for the wrong reason. We have all led good lives.
"We are bereft at her passing, but we have some lovely memories."
Nigel Little, one of Mrs Little's two sons, said: "She was the hub of the family."
Mrs Little's funeral will be held on Monday, at 11.30am, in the large chapel at Chanterlands Crematorium in west Hull.
