Anne Service, founder of the 6th South Queensferry Brownies and a local church elder, has died aged 62.
Anne Service was a well-known face in South Queensferry, particularly in the Girl Guides.
She was responsible, along with late minister John Carrie, for starting a big parade held every year by all the youth organisations in the town – an event s
till going strong after 30 years.
Anne was born on February 4, 1948 in Oxford Street, Edinburgh, to Albert, a saxophonist with the well-known Tim Wright dance band, and his wife Jessie.
Tragically, she lost both parents to cancer when she was just eight, and her care was entrusted to her aunt Anne Lumsden.
As a child, Anne attended the 124th Brownie unit at St Leonard's Church, Newington. She stayed on as an assistant guider and went on to become Brown Owl.
She attended Preston Street Primary and Boroughmuir Secondary, before going on to become a clerical assistant at Standard Life.
Later, she moved on to work as a secretary with Guinness, where she met Derek, a general manager for Carlsberg. They married in 1970.
After relocating to South Queensferry, Anne started as Brown Owl with the 1st South Queensferry pack before founding a new unit, the 6th South Queensferry Brownies, where she served as both guider and assistant for over 30 years.
Sharing her skills and knowledge was something that came naturally to Anne and she formalised this by gaining her training licence in 1978.
In September 1992, Anne took the opportunity to combine her administrative skills with her passion for guiding and joined the staff at the organisation's Scottish headquarters, where she worked for 15 years before retiring last September.
It was perhaps as Guiding development administrator that she left her biggest mark.
A valued and highly respected member of staff, Anne found time for everyone, rising to challenges and never giving up on anything. Her hugely positive attitude made her an ideal commissioner and led to her final Guiding appointment, as assistant division commissioner for Inveralmond.
She was presented with the Laurel Award, one of the association's highest attainments, at the Scottish Annual Review in June 2003, in recognition of her outstanding service to guiding.
Anne's expertise and knowledge was recognised at county level when she became pack holiday adviser and she worked to promote outdoor activities for the Brownie section, which culminated in her running the county's first large-scale camp for Brownies, Scotia 2003.
Her brother Bert said: "She was such a force of nature, such a wonderful presence in our lives. It seems almost inconceivable that she's gone.
"No longer will we have the Anne who would bustle into a room and organise you to within an inch of your life, the Anne who would win you over with her ravenous appetite for life. Her absence will take some getting used to but her spiritual presence will linger long."
Anne died on July 17 after a lengthy illness.
She is survived by her husband Derek, and daughters Kristy and Kara.
The full article contains 517 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
