Elizabeth Ferrar, who died on August 12th aged 89, always enjoyed the reaction from an audience when she announced that she'd grown up in a zoo, for about the time she was born her father had given up his medical practice in Armagh and had become curator of the Zoological Gardens in Dublin.
It was an idyllic childhood for an adventurous young girl, her brother Michael and sisters, Ella and Daphne, with ample opportunity to enjoy close proximity with the animals after the zoo had closed, which brought tales of adventures which were later to enthral children.
Commitment and service to the church was fundamental to the Ferrar family. Residence in the Phoenix Park brought with it an association with the remarkable parish of All Saints Grangegorman, and for Elizabeth Ferrar a lifelong friendship with its vicar, the late Archdeacon Raymond Jenkins. Her brother was one-time warden of the Divinity Hostel in Dublin. Her maternal grandfather, Robert Shaw-Hamilton had been Dean of Armagh; her father's father, William Hugh Ferrar, had been a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and had given his name to an important group of biblical manuscripts, "The Ferrar Group".
From an early age Elizabeth Ferrar wanted to be a teacher, however her conservative Victorian father frowned on women working and having careers. He finally relented and allowed his daughter to train as a teacher, provided she served abroad as a missionary teacher.
After a period teaching at Alexandra College, Dublin, she joined the Dublin University Mission to Chota Nagpur, completed her training at Selly Oak, Birmingham, and went to India in 1939, just as war was breaking out.
The mission was based in Hazaribagh in Bihar and ran parishes, primary and secondary schools, a third-level college (which was eventually incorporated into the University of Ranchi), and a major hospital and school of nursing (St Columbas).
Elizabeth Ferrar settled quickly and was appointed warden of St Kieran's Girls' High School, and soon became recognised as an authority on education in that huge diocese.
On visits home she was such a popular and inspiring speaker that in 1954 the S.P.G. (Society for Propagation of the Gospel), in London applied for her to be seconded to it to help with the recruitment of potential overseas candidates.
She returned to India in 1956 and was appointed head of the community, the first woman to hold that position. Three years later she left to become bishop's representative at Kandara - a thriving Christian community which had been leaderless for some time.
Kandara was so isolated that travelling to it was always difficult and sometimes impossible. Elizabeth Ferrar arrived by bicycle and began rebuilding schools and hostels, training and retraining teachers, and encouraging the local hospital staff. Her indomitable spirit served her well as she faced innumerable difficulties including those of isolation and lack of resources - she was the only European for 40 miles.
Despite the size of her task Elizabeth Ferrar still found time to write an important preparation for confirmation, The Three-fold Cord, which was translated into numerous Indian dialects and widely used for many years throughout north India.
She retired from India in 1966 to take up the post of general secretary of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, and then spent a period as warden of a hostel for overseas students in Edinburgh.
With the inauguration of the Church of North India in 1970, her former diocese of Chota Nagpur requested her to return for a period to assist with the reorganisation of education there, before her retirement to Dublin in 1971.
From her home in Donnybrook Elizabeth Ferrar quickly became involved in church life. U.S.P.G. (United Society for Propagation of the Gospel) Ireland, the Bishops' Appeal (for Third World aid), the Irish School of Ecumenics, all benefited from her voluntary service and tireless energy, often to the exhaustion of those much younger.
She was editor of Search, the Church of Ireland academic journal, for many years, and for five years served as chairman of D≤chas, the umbrella body for development agencies.
She re-established links with her old school, Alexandra College, and served on its council. She supported St Mary's Home in Pembroke Park and it was to there she moved last Christmas when independent living became impossible.
Her life reflected her vision of a church worldwide and ecumenical, and she was easily irritated with narrow parochialism, whether denominational or national. Service was her watchword - whether her remarkable service to the church overseas, especially in India, the simple service of opening the door at St Mary's or manning the bookstall for the Irish School of Ecumenics. She seldom reminisced, instead planning and pushing for change even in her later years in a way that surprised those who didn't know her well.
Failing powers in the last couple of years was a source of great frustration, but through her letter writing and phone calls, and the constant stream of visitors to her home she kept in touch with her many friends worldwide. To say we shall never see her like again is often a clichΘ - in Elizabeth Ferrar's case it is simply the truth.
Elizabeth Ferrar: born 1912; died, August 2001