ELIZABETH Crannigan (Mrs Crannigan to many) died on September 8th at the Gables nursing Home in Silsden.

Born in 1927 in Warrington Lancashire, Mrs Crannigan’s parents were a WWI veteran and a housewife.

By the time she was 10 she was orphaned and being raised, alongside her three brothers, by her spinster aunt, Clara.

She studied art in London and went on to have an early career in design providing artwork for Sandersons and Beeches chocolates.

In the late 1960s she studied at the Ilkley College of further Education, gaining a teaching qualification which led her to a path where she could explore her passion of education and looking after children.

With a natural talent, no doubt from her carpenter father, Mrs Crannigan taught art, remedial English and metalwork and woodwork at Ilkley Middle School for some years eventually becoming the Head of the Craft department.

Her straitened and difficult childhood circumstances shaped her for a lifetime of wanting to make a difference in the lives, particularly, of those who were marginalised in some way.

This was particularly notable in the cases of students who struggled with mainstream subjects but found their own passion in expressing themselves through creative work.

She was an active and engaged member of Ilkley Art Club and during a trip to New York was invited to have an exhibition later that year in Philadelphia, of her watercolours - which was a great success.

After her retirement Mrs Crannigan enjoyed a great deal of travelling – and had many happy trips to the States, Australia and New Zealand.

Mrs Crannigan was widowed in 1998 when her husband Tony died and in her later years she cared for her son Nicholas until he passed from cancer in 2006.

In 2016 after suffering a fall, Mrs Crannigan was taken to the Gables Nursing home where she was expected to survive only a further four to six weeks. When she passed away on September 8th she had confounded the experts by giving her family a further five years of her company.

She is survived by her remaining son Sean (Ilkley) and daughter Margaret (New Zealand), four grandchildren and five great children all of whom provided her with a great deal of happiness and pride.

A memorial service later in the year will be held following a private family cremation later this month.