JOYCE Silvester, who has died aged 87, was well known as a secretary for Oxford companies and organisations.

After completing her training, she joined the Pressed Steel company at Cowley and then moved to Blenheim Palace, a wartime base of the British Council.

Later, she worked at Dorset House School of Occupational Therapy, the Oxford University Forestry Department, Southfield School, Cowley Road Hospital and the Warneford Hospital.

Mrs Silvester, of Stone Street, East Oxford, was born in Coventry and came to Oxford at the age of eight, attending St Christopher’s CoE School in Cowley and Milham Ford School.

At 14, she spent nine months in the Wingfield Hospital at Headington (now the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre) being treated for curvature of the spine by the pioneering orthopaedic surgeon Prof Gathorne Girdlestone.

She was a lifelong member of St Clement’s Church, belonged to the Women’s Institute, and was an expert flower arranger. She was also a member and former committee member of the Oxford-Leiden twin city link and made many visits to Holland.

She leaves her husband Peter, sons Philip and Andrew and grandchildren Anna and Timothy.

The funeral service was held at Oxford Crematorium and a thanksgiving service at St Clement’s Church.

In a statement, the family said: “Despite difficulties with rheumatoid arthritis and the pressures of motherhood earlier, she always concerned herself with the well being of others.”