DEVONPORT  has been saddened by the death this week of a respected worker for the community and staunch lifelong advocate of the city she loved so well. The loss of well-known marriage celebrant Lyn Fox, the daughter of former Devonport warden Bill Holman,  has come as a complete shock, her closest family members said  yesterday. She was 67. The cause of her death, which happened at home,  is not yet known. "It was totally unexpected,'' husband Rick said yesterday. "We had lunch and two hours later she was gone''. They were married 46 years, after meeting on a cruise ship where he worked as a steward and she was travelling with a Women's Weekly tour group. "They said it wouldn't last -  it was a shipboard romance,'' Mr Fox said. "We both knew. I proposed to her on the first day in Hong Kong and she said yes. "She was a lady to the true meaning of the word.'' The popular celebrant has married many hundreds of Coasters over her 30 years and even performed the ceremony for some people more than once. Her record was presiding at seven weddings in one day, a feat which required being timed to the last minute. "I love being a wedding celebrant because of the people I meet and the places the job takes me to - I don't think I have the temperament to cope with funerals,'' Mrs Fox told The Advocate. Daughter Yvette Erskine described her mother "as an awesome person''. "Nothing was too much trouble for her and when it came to her friends and family she was always there,'' Mrs Erskine said. "She loved her time with her four grandchildren,'' daughter Cristina Fairley said. "She also loved Devonport; that was her other passion and she was always an advocate. "Cradle Mountain was another special place to her, the place she wants her ashes scattered''. An unabashed romantic, Mrs Fox told The Advocate in 2006 of her passion for her work. She was a stickler for being organised, a trait she honed first as a Brownie and later as pack leader.  Mrs Fox was always prepared. Her wedding emergency kit included  spare handkerchiefs, Blu Tack for wayward shirt collars, nail files, hair pins, plasters for cuts and even insect repellent for beach weddings. "One hundred and one things can happen [at a wedding]. You're a bit of a magician and a master of keeping up appearances,'' Mrs Fox said. One of her big moments came at just eight as the local Brownie given the honour of presenting Queen Elizabeth with a bouquet of flowers during her 1953 visit. Mrs Fox was an immaculate dresser and had an air of such calm and decorum about her. Good manners mattered. "Looking good really mattered to her,'' Mrs Erskine said. "She was an amazing shopper.'' Mrs Fox was a volunteer driver for Red Cross and a strictly regular blood donor. She delivered meals on wheels for years. She started the first playgroup in Devonport, The Red Apple, and was involved in the Australian Nursing Mothers Association. She was a life member of Nixon Street Primary School. She loved sport, particularly the Melbourne Demons. She and Mr Fox were state archery champions. She was a champion sprinter, a state netballer and a member of a Tasmanian team which won a national title. A compulsive list-maker, Mrs Fox told her family that if she fell off the perch she had left instructions listing her wishes. No funeral and no flowers.  "In lieu of flowers donations to the Red Cross - blood or money,'' Mrs Erskine said.  "Right to the last moment she was thinking of everybody else.''  A memorial ceremony for friends and family of Mrs Lyn Fox will be held on September 27 at Pinegrove Funerals at 1pm.