My mother, Renee Iliffe, who has died aged 90, was a civil servant, a trade unionist and a member of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). Compassionate and generous, with a wonderful sense of humour, she was a remarkable woman who faced the many challenges in her life with courage and an indomitable spirit.
My mother was born Renee Elsie Florence Hussey in Readingand attended Kendrick school there until the age of 16. During the second world war, she joined the FANY and worked on decoding signals from agents in Europe. In 1945 she married Alan Iliffe, with whom she had four daughters, Lynne, me, Jane and Debby. In 1953 Alan took a post as psychology lecturer at Keele University and she became a member of the Keele Players drama group and subsequently the New Intimate drama group. She produced several plays at Keele, for which she was highly acclaimed. In the early 1960s she attained the qualification Associate of the Drama Board and taught drama at evening classes.
In 1969, she took employment in London at St Bartholomew's hospital as a social secretary. In 1970, following the dissolution of her marriage, she moved to London. She joined the civil service as a secretary in the Department of Agriculture and subsequently the Cabinet Office and the Department of Trade and Industry. She moved to Brighton and then to Cheshire, buying her first house in Davenham, where she lived until 1988. She was a keen trade union member and Civil and Public Services Association representative, taking part in the demonstration over union membership issues at Government Communications Headquarters in the 1980s. She was a lifelong member of the Labour party.
In 1986 she retired and moved to Penmorfa, north Wales, where she was well known as "the lady who is always walking", often covering several miles a day, well into her 80s. In 1990 her eldest daughter, Lynne, died from leukaemia. In 2005, she moved to Exmouth, Devon, to be near her family.
She is survived by me, Jane and Debby, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.