A PILLAR of the community who travelled the world has died, aged 92. 

Eliane Prudence George was a woman with many experiences and unique stories from around the world.

Her funeral took place at All Saints' Church in Maldon, where guests were asked to wear bright clothes in her memory.

Ms George was born on January 24, 1930, in Richmond, Surrey, and was 92 when she died peacefully on April 30 at her home in Highlands Drive, Maldon.

She grew up with a butler, cook, nanny and a governess in Titchfield in Hampshire.

At the start of the war, the family moved to a flat at the top of Putney Hill and could see the bombing and fires over central London from the roof.

When her grandmother’s sister, Aunty Flo, died, Elaine used the money she was left to buy a car and go on holiday to the Isle of Wight.

She met Maldon’s Dr Keith George on the Isle of Wight and they married five months later at St Bartholomew the Great, in Smithfield, which featured in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

She moved to Maldon to live with Keith and his seven-year-old son, Robert, in a house in Beeleigh Road and had two children, Caroline and Alan.

Eliane developed her love of gardening in the huge garden at their home and made lovely gardens wherever she lived.

The car she bought with her great aunt’s money came with her to Maldon and broke down many times, including on Blue Mills Hill in Wickham Bishops.

She became a respected magistrate and chairman of the bench in Maldon, and an active member of Maldon Film Club and reading group.

She helped vicar Arthur Dunlop with secretarial support and was chairman of the BBC Essex Local Advisory Council.

She played golf regularly at the Warren and was known for getting a hole in one when well into her 70s.

She travelled around the world, before and after husband Keith’s death in 1986.

She moved to Highlands Drive in 2000, where she stayed for her remaining 22 years and created a beautiful garden.