Ella Archibald was born the second of four sisters in Swansea, South Wales, on September 8, 1933. Her mother, Winifred, was a local girl and her father, John, was originally from Granton.
Mr Archibald was in the military and the family moved arou
nd a lot during his daughter's childhood, spending time in India and Kenya.
They were back in Wales when the Second World War began in 1939. "Swansea was bombed very heavily," said sister Lorraine Archibald, 67. "We spent a lot of time in air-raid shelters. We were there almost every night and even had to do our homework in the shelters.
"Because of this, my parents decided to move back to Edinburgh in 1941, because I was due to be born and it was safer. We came to stay with my grandmother and when we were here we went to the local school – Granton Primary."
After the war, and following more moving around, Mr Archibald retired from the army and the family finally settled in his home city.
"By this point, Ella was a young teenager and for once we weren't here, there and everywhere," said Lorraine. Mrs Archibald worked for St Cuthbert's Co-operative in Sighthill as manageress of the fruit shop, before deciding to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
"She was 18 or 19 when she joined WAAF," said her sister. "She trained as a fighter plotter and was based at Turnhouse airport, now Edinburgh Airport. Her job was to track the planes as they approached on raids.
"She had to learn Morse code as part of it and she had a wonderful time.
"She always thought it was great to be part of something constructive.
"She was always quite adventurous – always wanting to learn new things.
"She stayed there for five years and then went to train to be a BT telephonist at Woodcroft Telephone Exchange. She was always interested in being trained for a specific job. Most of the things she did had a skill involved and would be beneficial."
Mrs Archibald eventually settled in Colinton but did not marry, instead preferring to put her energy into pursuing her many interests.
Lorraine said: "She made her own choices and decided she could not do everything. She was very independent and a private person who was very loyal. She took early retirement at 57 but continued to learn. She loved sketching and watercolours and loved sports – badminton in particular .
She also did courses in communicating with the deaf. She didn't ask for big things but she liked to use her brain and to always be finding out new things."
A private funeral was held at Mrs Archibald's request on April 17.
The full article contains 476 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
