AUGUSTA -- Friends, family and public officials who knew her gathered Saturday in her hometown church to honor and remember the life and contributions of City Councilor Sylvia Lund.

Lund died Sept. 18 in an Augusta nursing home, celebrating her 75th birthday on Aug. 30 after fighting health problems for the latter part of her life.

"This has been a difficult summer and a difficult past few weeks, but my family has taken a great deal of comfort from the love and support shown by all of you," one of her six children, Will Lund, told mourners who filled St. Mark's Church Saturday.

"Mom herself also was a source of strength for us during these difficult months," Mr. Lund said. "I remember sensing that on many occasions, even when her room was crowded with visitors, she remained the strongest person there."

Another of her sons, Alfred Lund, carried a silver-decorated blue urn containing Lund's ashes and wrapped it on a small table in front of the congregation in a favorite shawl that had been knitted by women with prayers for healing.

Augusta Mayor Roger Katz told those assembled that many community leaders of his generation have turned to her for counsel.

"I think she was the wisest person I ever knew," Katz said.

He credited much of the Augusta City Council's civil discourse to the impact of Lund on that institution.

"That is one of Sylvia's legacies to the city," the Augusta mayor said. "She is an example. She is a role model. In many ways, Sylvia is responsible for that civility. She taught us all how to act."

But he said Lund's greatest legacy was gathered around her in church Saturday -- her children and grandchildren.

"I want you to know how much of the burden of your loss is shared by this whole community," Katz said to her family.

Will Lund recalled the youthful, athletic woman he remembered as a child.

"I remember watching Mom play tennis when I was 3 or 4 years old on the clay court at the Viles house where she grew up," he said. "She was graceful and beautiful. A few years later she contracted polio and, although that illness prevented her from being as active as before, she retained her grace and her beauty.

"She could easily have spend her life being bitter at the hand she'd been dealt, but rather she chose to raise her family and also to serve the public, using her own tribulations as a guide to help her deal with others' problems."

In addition to the eulogies from the pulpit, Alfred Lund and his wife, Ruth, also offered a song he had written and performed for his mother to lift her spirits during her illness.

Lund died of complications from hemochromatosis, a disease that allowed iron to build in her blood and damage other organs in her body, family members said. Doctors discovered the problem about two years ago.

She announced in August she would not continue her plans to seek re-election in November to her at-large Augusta City Council seat because of her medical condition.

Lund served two terms in the Maine House from 1978-82 and ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate in 1992 and 2000.

She was chairwoman of the Augusta Board of Education from 1989-92, family members said. She was a member of the State Board of Education from 1972-77 and its chairwoman from 1972-75. She served as the director of the state Office of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention for two of the three years she worked there from 1989-91, agency officials said.

She served on the Maine Board of Environmental Protection 1977-78, received the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, she was a trustee at Thomas College and chaired the United Way of Kennebec Valley in 1999.

She attended Cony High School and graduated from Westover School in Middlebury, Conn., in 1950. She graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in political science and received a masters degree in public administration from the University of Maine in 1988.

Lund married Augusta attorney and former Maine Attorney General Jon Lund in 1952. The couple had five sons and a daughter. They divorced in 1974.

"My Mom was a great lady, and she was a great Mom," Will Lund said Saturday. "And we will miss her."

Gary Remal -- 621-5642

gremal@centralmaine.com