a simple old style compass was all she needed to save her own life.....
Not sure about that. If that was all that was needed, then sun rising gives direction of east, if visible in thick woods & underbrush. Knowing a direction only helps if she knew which direction she departed the trip from. Regardless she was unprepared and now gone. R.I.P.
Lacking even that, all you need to know is that you only hiked so far from the trail. Mark your current "I'm Lost!" location, and mark your new path. If you don't cross the trail in twice the time it took you to get away from it originally, head back to your original "I'm Lost!" location, then head out 90-degrees from that direction, and do the same thing. Repeat as necessary.
Not that hard to tell directions even without a compass. The sun comes up in the east, sets in the west, and the ecliptic leans to the south in the northern hemisphere. You can set up a vertical stick and look at the shadow and how it moves over the course of 15 minutes to estimate the cardinal directions. From that you can set waypoints to walk toward and then again look at the shadow of a vertical stick to reorient yourself to a new waypoint. At night you have Polaris to tell you due north and knowing a few star patterns or simply watching the motion of the stars or moon will help you lay out the cardinal directions that you can use the next morning. You can also look for skyglow from cities to judge your location and which direction the glow is coming from.