Lilian Margaret Bruce was born in Edinburgh on 9th April 1943, the only daughter of a fireman from Aberdeenshire and a young woman of Irish descent, from Liverpool. She was the younger sister to Alex and the elder sister to Malcolm. Lilian was educated at James Gillespie’s High School for Girls, Edinburgh and as a young woman took a strong interest in the local church in Gilmerton. After leaving school she tried both accountancy and nursing as careers before deciding to go to St Andrews University to study divinity, graduating in 1967. After spending some time as an Assistant Minister in Orkney, Lilian went to Colgate-Rochester Divinity School, USA to complete a Master’s degree in Theology. Thereafter she joined the staff of Rochester Presbyterian Church, New York State before completing her training for the ministry at New College, University of Edinburgh. Lilian was ordained at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh in 1971. There was naturally much interest by the press at the time, yet despite being in the vanguard of change within the church and the position of women in society in general, she never sought the limelight. Lilian then served in Currie Kirk in Midlothian as an Associate Minister. In 1973 she was granted the charge of St Boswells in the Borders where she enjoyed helping a once declining rural parish transform into a hub of Christian outreach and community. In 1980 Lilian became a missionary to the Presbyterian Church of East Africa at St Columba’s Church, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, whose members were drawn from several African nations as well as from many other countries. She also enjoyed teaching classes at the Anglican Theological College in Tanzania. Lilian returned to Scotland and in March 1986 she was delighted to be inducted to the charge of Daviot and Dunlichity linked with Moy, Dalarossie and Tomatin. She won funding and a national award for the restoration of Daviot church and undertook historical research on the parish. Tragically, a stroke forced Lilian to stop working in 2000 and led to the demission of her charge in 2001. From 2001 Lilian lived and was cared for in her Edinburgh flat until her failing health required hospitalisation from September 2009. She died peacefully at Ellon’s Glen House on 5th January 2011.