The community is mourning the passing of a Tauranga woman who helped shaped the city.

Ada Parnwell passed away at her home in Tauranga on June 3. She was in her late 80s.

'Her life touched many others and she will be fondly remembered and missed by us all,” her family said her in funeral notice.

Ada is survived by her daughters Elizabeth, Yvonne and grandchildren Angela, Rochelle, Victoria, Sarah, Lauren, Adam and Caitlin, and great grandson Cooper.

A service is being held for Ada at St Peters in the City, Presbyterian Church, in Spring Street.

The service will be followed by a private cremation.

Ada and her husband Bert moved from Tirau to Tauranga in 1948.

The couple had met while she worked at the Dairy Company in Tirau.

During the 1950s, Ada and Bert owned the popular Parnwell Bakeries, supplying 90 per cent of the Bay of Plenty bread supply.

Eight years after moving to Tauranga, Ada was elected onto the Tauranga Borough Council at the age of 26.

During her time as a councillor she was instrumental in getting the Kaimai Rail tunnel built, securing the future of the Port of Tauranga.

In 1962 she anticipated the founding of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic by campaigning for council to put land aside for a university.

Ada was instrumental in a number of other projects in Tauranga including getting Tauranga's 20,000 Club – a club aimed at increasing the population – to contribute or build the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, Memorial Pool and Memorial Park Fountain.

Ada was also big in the horse racing scene and had a wide and varied involvement as the principal of Cambridge Lodge, which was the base for various aspects of her bloodstock interests.

Cambridge Lodge general manager Lee Somervell remembers Ada as a hard taskmaster 'who kept me on my toes”.

'But there's no denying her tremendous investment in racing.”