Mary Parnell has passed away at the age of 89 following a brave ten year battle with Leukaemia.

She was married to former mayor of Southampton Brian Parnell for 64 years and was a loving mother to their children Fiona and Graham, caring grandmother to Lucy, Kate, Ed and Cecilia and a recent great grandmother to Rosalind.

Together the mayor and mayoress carried out hundreds of civic engagements during their two year-long periods as the city's top citizens in 2002 and 2008. And Brian is happy to say that his wife outshone him with her ability to talk to anyone and put them at ease.

Between her two spells as mayoress, the then 77-year-old took part in a 12,000ft sky dive, raising thousands of pounds for the Rose Road Association.

Mary was born in Southampton in 1932 and witnessed some of the bombing of the city from her parents home in Tulip Road. She was evacuated to Lymington and later to Dorset.

She left school before the age of 15 and trained and worked as a nursery nurse before becoming a midwife in East London, commenting that it was just like later depicted in TV's Call The Midwife.

Mary ran Brimar Rest Home in Shirley for many years before managing two other homes for the elderly for Hampshire County Council, Woodside Lodge in Bransgore and Cranleigh Paddock in Lyndhurst.

She stood as a local government candidate in both Portswood and Freemantle wards and was involved in local church life.

The Parnells lived in Shirley when they were first married before moving to Bassett 40 years ago.

Brian told the Daily Echo: "She was a wonderful woman, loving, stoic, kind and she wouldn't give in."

Given just two months to live by doctors in 2012, a new drug, prayers and Mary's determination kept her going until her death at home earlier this month with members of her family by her side.