Back in the day and not so very long ago, Marion Swan could easily have won top honours for having the biggest and best Afro in town. That's when she was an elite graduate of the Bermuda School of Charm and was much in demand as a model.

She was in the early wave of progressive young women to enter the Civil Service some 40 years ago when proscriptions against blacks working in the General Post Office came tumbling down.

Marion has obviously lost her big Afro, but she's no less charming, as was evident at the celebration on Sunday of her 70th birthday at her Manchester Unity Lodge auditorium in Hamilton. Now the married mother of three adult children, Carmalin, Stanley and Rosalie, she is also grandmother of eight and has three-great-grandchildren.

After 35 years in the Post Office, her retirement in 2004 has afforded her much more time to indulge in overseas travel, and as she put it, to give a little back to the community by driving foster children to school for the Department of Child and Family Services.

Her favourite pastime is engaging with the Brunch Group in celebrating the birthdays of each member. Also she finds time for active participation in the workings of the Hamilton District of the Independent Order of Oddfellosws, where she's a Past Master and secretary in one of the subordinate lodges. And she spends a lot of time volunteering at The Barn in Devonshire; as well as in the programmes of the Bermuda Public Service Union's Retirees Group and the Seniors Learning Centre at the Bermuda College.

Marion's work ethic and healthy lifestyle were instilled in her as a young girl born in Somerset on April 19, 1940 to Maxwell and Ann Barstow of Manchester Street. The family later moved to Spice Hill Road, Warwick. She travelled by "ankle express", walking everywhere, from home to Sunday School and church at Vernon Temple AME Church, Southampton. She attended the one-room school house across from White's Supermarket in Warwick, and was one of the first students to attend Purvis School when it opened in 1946.

There's one thing she remembers well about growing up in "the old Bermuda". As a schoolgirl,she walked to her grandmother's house at Cedar Hill from Purvis every Thursday and was required to speak to neighbours and do errands before she could think about playing. And regularly she had to walk from Spice Hill to gym at Warwick Park.

She continued her education at L.L. Jean Jacques Commercial School and prepared herself well for the looming opportunities. She also did several courses at community schools.

At her celebration Sunday the Minister of Community Affairs, the Hon. Neletha Butterfield, MP, was among those freely attesting to Marion's sterling qualities.

She and the Minister are partners at the Curves Gym, and she joked how Marion without a struggle gets there regularly as early as 6 a.m.

Other guests including colleages from the Post Office and from her lodge were high and witty in their plaudits.