There are few people who won’t have seen Jean Ellis around town on the hunt for a good story. Armed with a notebook and camera, she brought news to the community for nearly 40 years.

After cutting her teeth at the Macclesfield Express in the Seventies, Jean, of Pexhill Drive, moved to the Community News where she stayed for 30 years, the last 10 as editor. She died, aged 62, on November 5, at East Cheshire Hospice.

For seven years she had stoically fought a lung condition picked up from her pet cockatiel Beaky, telling only her closest friends about her illness.

Her sister Margaret Roberts, 72, said: "She was the best sister in the world. So unselfish, so caring, we were the best of friends. The two most important things in her life were family and newspapers."

A grandmother-of-two and mum to Lucy and Jane, Jean’s huge popularity was proven by the hundreds who turned out at Friday’s memorial service.

Jean was dedicated to her job, staying at the Community News until its closure in 2008. By the paper’s later years she was editor, reporter and photographer.

Margaret Loran, 75, of Altrincham Road, Styal was founder and edited the Community News until 1992.

She said: "Jean was one of the world’s good people. She was an absolutely fantastic reporter, with great integrity.

"She became so well known to so many people and organisations. I called her ‘Mrs Community News’."

Jackie Gaynor, who recently retired as editor of the Wilmlsow Express, worked with Jean when they were on rival papers.

She said: "We were friendly rivals, but she was so loved in the community and respected by everyone."

Irene Moore, friend of 40 years and former colleague at the Express and Community News, said: "She was a remarkable person and very fine journalist. She had a great sense of humour – and a nickname for everybody."

Former MP Sir Nicholas Winterton, who paid tribute at the service, became MP at the same time Jean arrived in town.

He said: "She was a lovely person, a kind person, a genuine person. She loved Macclesfield and she reported news as it was. She was somebody you could trust."

Born on the Wirral, Jean moved to Macclesfield with husband Keith in the Seventies.

She bought cockatiel Beaky one Christmas for the children and kept him as a pet for 20 years, not realising a fungal infection from the bird would affect her asthma.

Keith, a music teacher and pianist at the Alderley Edge Hotel, died four years ago.