Mrs Raffin, who died on January 15 aged 88, had a degree in early childhood education but became a driving force for in the creative community, starting with the Festival of Arts, which ran in the city from the late 60s through the 70s.

The Festival of Arts started a groundswell of support for the establishment of a gallery and when the Civic Theatre was completed in 1976, Mrs Raffin began using its forum space for art exhibitions.

"This [forum gallery] eventually manifested itself into the gallery as we know it now, before the new extensions," Mr Hawke said explaining that unofficially, she had become Orange's first gallery director.

The Orange Regional Gallery was opened in 1986, with former mayor Dick Niven saying it was well-supported by the council at the time.

"She and Bill Marshall, who was the town clerk at the time, were very forthright in getting that done with the building of the library," Mr Hawke said.

In an interview with ACM in 2011, Mrs Raffin remembers running the gallery from a small desk set up in the chair storage room at the Civic Centre forum.

Prior to the forum exhibitions, Mrs Raffin would use space above husband Peter's Summer Street menswear shop to host exhibitions.

"It was given over to a group of people to have exhibitions there when they felt they could and most of the work was sourced from top galleries in Australia and top artists, for example the Macquarie Galleries in Sydney which was the top gallery in Australia at the time.

"So the opportunity for people to buy top art, she provided that."

The gallery was later moved to the family home in Hill Street.

Following the Regional Gallery's opening, Mrs Raffin joined with Mr Raffin were also instrumental in the the establishment of the Orange Regional Arts Foundation.

"Janie continued to maintain an active interest in that right up to her death," Mrs Hawke, who added $700,000 in grants had been passed on to the arts community since its inception.

The Orange Regional Gallery's director Brad Hammond also described Mrs Raffin as Orange's first public gallery director.

"Jane was hugely passionate about the arts and was a driving force behind the development of the current Gallery which opened in 1987," Mr Hammond said. "

"Even though she had moved away from Orange in recent years, she kept in touch all through the Gallery's recent extension project, offering valuable support and advice throughout.

"Her fiery enthusiasm and belief in the social value of art will be deeply missed."

Mrs Raffin is survived by her children, Nikko, Tom and Ali, Kate, Ad (Fras) and Shana and their children.

A celebration of Mrs Raffin's life will be held next week.

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