SHE was a breath of fresh air who couldn’t do just one thing at a time.

That was how colleagues yesterday described former Abingdon town councillor Penny McDougall, who died unexpectedly on Sundaynight.

The 58-year-old, of Austin Place, attended John Mason School as a child and returned to Abingdon later in life to serve on the town council from May 2011.

She stepped down from her post on March 21, and it is thought she planned to move to a house she had been renovating with her son Ross in Didcot.

Her family said she became ill on Saturday afternoon and thought she might have food poisoning.

The next day she was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital and her family said she suffered a cardiac arrest from which she did not recover.

However, the exact cause of her death is still unknown.

She was born Penelope Anne Borland on Christmas Eve 1954.

Her father Douglas Borland was an RAF pilot, and with her mother Betty Borland and sister Lynne, the family moved from Cornwall to Abingdon when he was stationed there in the late 1960s.

She married Ian McDougall, a teacher in training originally from Glasgow, in 1980.

During their marriage they moved around Oxfordshire from Abingdon to Kennington and Tubney.

They had two sons, Kyle, in 1985, and Ross, born 1987.

After the couple divorced, Ms McDougall returned to Abingdon, where her mother had been living in the same house in Austin Place since her father’s death in 1989.

Kyle McDougall bought his grandmother’s house from her, and moved in with his wife Nikki and their son Kye, now aged one.

They invited Ms McDougall to live with them, and she took care of baby Kye for three days of the week, working at Waitrose in Abingdon for the other two days.

Mr McDougall, an assistant store manager in Didcot, said of his mother: “She didn’t have a double life so much as a triple life.

“She was my mum, and a councillor, and had a job as well as taking care of my son.”

His younger brother said: “She was devoted to her family. No matter what, she would always make time for family and gave up a lot to come and help us.”

Fellow Lib Dem councillor Tony de Vere said: “She was a breath of fresh air, she couldn’t just do one thing at a time.”

She is survived by her mother Betty Borland, 89, a resident at Abingdon Court care home, her two sons Kyle, 27, and Ross, 25, and her daughter-in-law Nikki, 28, as well as her sister Lynne Dance, 65 and grandson Kye.

Lib Dem group leader on the town council Alison Rooke said: “Penny was a lovely lady. She was extremely hard working as a local councillor and completely devoted to her family. She will be sorely missed by everyone.”

Mayor Monica Lovatt said: “She was a very diligent councillor, and supported us very well both on council meetings and in her activities outside the council.”

A funeral service will be held at St Helen’s Church Abingdon on April 23 at 1pm, followed by a committal at Oxford Crematorium.

The family have asked that anyone attending “dress with a little colour” as she would have wished.