Sue McMahon of Carnoustie, who has died aged 81, was one of life’s doers.
She spent years as secretary of Carnoustie Community Council and worked with great energy to improve the town.
Sue will be remembered for her involvement in arranging the Christmas lights display and switching-on ceremony, as well as the open-air Christmas market.
She worked to provide flower baskets throughout the town, was involved in Carnoustie In Bloom and liaised with ScotRail to make sure the railway station was adorned with planters.
Arrival in Angus
Sue came to Carnoustie in 1964 after marrying her husband, Donald, in Vancouver.
She was South African by birth but her early years were not without complication.
As a young child she became ill with rheumatic fever and her condition was so severe that her father, a clergyman, performed the last rites.
Of course, Sue recovered and travelled several times between South Africa and the UK by ship, experiencing a mutiny on one journey.
The reason for the trips to the UK was that her father worked for the Mission to Seafarers and qualified for extended breaks every few years.
Canada years
In 1954, her father took up a position in Vancouver where Sue was educated. She progressed to secretarial college and then took up a post with Odeon Theatres.
It was at a Halloween party at a church in the city that she met her future husband, Donald. He came from Carnoustie and was a mariner on the Royal Mail ship, Paraguay.
When he returned to sea, the pair corresponded and met up again in London where Sue was living after a period of travelling.
Secretary to stars
During her time in London, Sue worked as a secretary at a theatrical agency where her boss was Robin Fox, father of actors James and Edward Fox.
Her work brought her into contact with many of the stars of the day including Diana Dors, Arthur Askey but her particular favourite was Robert Morley who often played a pompous gentleman in films.
Sue and Donald got engaged in London and then sailed to Canada to marry. Not long after they moved to Carnoustie where a long association with church and community began.
Sue helped run the Girl Guides and a playgroup at Holyrood Church and together with her friend, Kirsty McDonald, ran a catering company for a number of years.
During her years on Carnoustie Community Council, Sue was a strong voice for the town, holding the local authority to account on matters as varied as sewage, seaweed accumulations and dead seals on the beach.
The couple had two sons, Malcolm and Graham, who were both educated at Carnoustie High School. Malcolm studied physics at Edinburgh University where he is now a professor in the subject, and Graham had a long career in banking management.
Sue, who was predeceased by Donald, took ill on a trip to the Canadian Rockies some years ago and subsequently underwent heart procedures.
For many years the family lived at Seabrae, a property Donald had bought for his mother from his earnings at sea as a young man.
In recent years, Sue had been living at Brookfield care home, Carnoustie, until her recent illness.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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