The Bethanga Hotel has closed indefinitely after owner Kate Middleton died suddenly on Wednesday.
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Her daughter Molly Middleton, who has an 8-month-old baby girl, remembered her 60-year-old mother as "Wonder Woman" and "a quirky lady who always had her red lipstick on behind the bar".
"She was beautiful, she was funny, she was the most caring person I've ever met," Ms Middleton said.
Ms Middleton and her brother Daniel Middleton helped their mum run the pub after their uncle Gary Paxton - who died from a sudden heart attack on September 12 - sold it to their mum in 2020.
Kate, originally from Albury, moved to Bethanga two years ago to take over the hotel.
"Mum always said it wasn't a job, it was a lifestyle, and she loved it," Ms Middleton said. "She'd go above and beyond to make the experience 100 per cent, bringing the community together."
Kate made a career change to the pub after working for a long time in child protection services at Upper Murray Family Care.
"Her frocks were at their tops, she was quite a character," Ms Middleton said.
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She admired how her mother made the time for others and treated her customers as if they were her own family.
"She was a listening ear to the blokes who had nobody, the women of the community, she went above and beyond for the children ... so they would enjoy time out there (at the hotel)," she said.
The family also have a petting zoo in Bethanga.
Ms Middleton said her mother was the one who "made a home for us all".
"She was strong, independent, she did a lot by herself," she said.
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