LAKELAND -- Miss Ellen Kay Anderson dedicated much of her life to working with children and young adults through her church, civic organizations and the Girl Scouts of America.The retired local executive director for the Girl Scouts of America died of cancer Sunday (Aug. 31, 2003) at Park Place. She was 63."She was really an advocate for children, particularly girls," said her sister, Mary Neil Pearson of Lilburn, Ga. "I have three children and every one of them wanted to be her buddy, and my grandchildren felt the same way. Most of her friends who have children, they felt the same way too."Children just gravitated to her. They knew that she liked them. She was very open and honest with them -- very influential in their lives.Born in Norfolk, Va., on July 27, 1940, she graduated with a degree in education from Lenoir Rhyne College in Hickory, N.C., and completed some of her graduate work at Harvard University."She was going to be a teacher but she decided that she didn't want to teach," said her mother, Doris M. Anderson of Lakeland. "She had worked at the Girl Scout camps in the summer while she was in college. Then she decided to go into the Girl Scouts."Miss Anderson began her 40year career as a field director and camp director in North Carolina, before she came to Lakeland from Gastonia 24 years ago. She worked as executive director of the Heart of Florida Girl Scout Council with headquarters in Lakeland, until her retirement on Dec. 31, 2002.She was one of the founders of the Polk County Teen Pregnancy Prevention Alliance and of the Girls Invent the Future events. She received the Clark Award from the Florida Department of Children and Families in the spring of 1998 for her work with the programs.She was a member of the League of Women Voters, PACE, United Way and Girls Inc. She served on the Lakeland Beautiful Committee. She was a member of the United Women's Club and the Meet and Greet Club. She was a member of the Grace Women of the ELCA and the Saints Alive Group. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, where she was a Sunday school teacher, a member of the church council, and served on a number of other committees in the church.In addition to her mother and sister, Miss Anderson is survived by two nephews and one niece.Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Grace Lutheran Church, 745 S. Ingraham Ave., Lakeland. Burial will be in Floral Garden Cemetery in High Point, N.C.Memorials may be made to Grace Lutheran Church, 745 S. Ingraham St., Lakeland, 33801. Heath Funeral Chapel.