The personification of the fearless Englishwoman, Hadassah Bat Haim, pen-name of Myrtle Rockman, single-handedly upheld British culture in northern Israel from her Nahariya home.
Born Mryrtle Acker, she grew up in Manchester's intensely Jewish and Zionist life. Her admired "Uncle Maurice" was the Jewish writer and historian Maurice Samuel, who wrote passionately of his visits to Palestine in the late 1920s and 30s.
In the Second World War, she rejected her left-wing fervour and Young Communist League membership to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, becoming a heavy truck driver, and was promoted as driver to the very handsome Jewish chaplain, Rabbi Casper.
With her late husband, German-Jewish refugee Peter Rockman, and their young son and daughter, she emigrated to undeveloped Israel in 1950. At first they lived in a tent on Nahariya beach. When their goods arrived from England, they used the wooden crates as huts.
She became deeply involved in the life of the English-speaking community. Her tall, imposing, angular figure became a familiar sight in the village that Nahariya then was. She organised lectures, often delivering them herself, and brought in speakers from around the country.
Her greatest love was theatre. She wrote, produced and acted in plays. She was a prolific writer and regular contributor to the Jerusalem Post. Her most popular column was probably the weekly Travels with Hannah, a warm and hilarious series of accounts of the trials and tribulations of bringing up her youngest child. Israeli-born Hannah was probably the best known little girl to English-speaking residents.
Other popular columns were Life in the Galilee and Diary of a Housewife. One of her last stories described a group of fervent Evangelical Christians alarmingly rocking their reconstructed ancient fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee in their ecstasy.
In her many years in Israel, she never lost her old-school characteristics of unruffled self-control, dry wit and a mild and utterly charming eccentricity. She loved the adventure of travelling light to off-beat places.
Despite losing her sight in her last few years, she retained her stiff upper lip and sense of humour. She gave her last talk earlier this year, delighting an American Hadassah group with her witty account of her life in Israel, and reading extracts from her book, Verses for Grown-Ups.
She is survived by two daughters, Caroline and Hannah; son, Howard; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.