My sister Marion Greenwood, who has died aged 56, was born with Down's syndrome. She was the youngest of five children, and few concessions were made at home, because, as our mother said, there just wasn't time. But there was a growing appreciation in the 1950s of the potential of people with learning difficulties, and Marion made considerable progress, both at home and at a special school in Totton, Southampton.

As a teenager, she was one of the first to attend a new adult training centre, where simple paid work was undertaken for local firms. But it also opened up other activities for Marion, including amateur dramatics, netball and swimming. Later she worked for a while in a local shop and at a playgroup. She was particularly fond of children, and took a great interest in the development of her many nephews and nieces and, later, of their children, too. Her extraordinarily good memory could not only be relied on for details of almost any TV programme, but also gave her a very wide vocabulary, which she used to good effect.

From 1996 Marion attended Totton College, where she obtained numerous City and Guilds, RSA and OCR qualifications in communications, literacy and numeracy, as well as a national Recognising Achievement award in 2001. Her communication skills were such that, in 2004, she was invited to talk about her learning difficulties at Southampton University school of nursing and midwifery, and was delighted to be paid a speaker's fee. She also learned Makaton sign language in order to communicate with a friend at the centre.

Marion contributed greatly to the richness of our family life and had a wide circle of friends, including many members of the Christadelphian church; there, she expressed her faith with simple passion. She is survived by her sister, Ruth, her brothers Andrew, James and myself, and her Aunt Nell.