An Aberdeenshire woman who dedicated her life to raising a “family with values” has celebrated her 108th birthday.
Isabella Donald, who is one of the oldest people in the UK, was born in Inverkeithny near Turriff on December 12, 1913, just seven months before the start of World War I.
Growing up in a family of farmers, she had a “fairly tough” childhood and was no stranger to putting in hours of hard work “come rain or shine” to help her parents.
Mrs Donald, who is better known to friends as Bell, was brought up in a close-knit community with four sisters and five brothers – which her daughter Mary Gillespie said wasn’t unusual for the early 1910s.
She attended Easterfield School as a child, however, left full-time education when she was 14 and went on to work as a housemaid and a nanny to support her large family.
‘She lived for her family’
Mrs Gillespie said that although her mother had “quite modern” thinking for her time, her devotion to the family values she grew up with remained through the years.
“She lived for her family and has always been there for them,” she said.
“I used to tease her a great deal because she would go running about on a Saturday – ironing my brothers’ shirts and cleaning their shoes for them – and one would just shout ‘Mum, where is my blue shirt? Mum, where are my shoes?’.
“She was the kind of person that wanted to do everything for them. She’s always been very dedicated to the family and spent her life bringing up her children.”
Mrs Donald met her husband-to-be James, while working at a farm near her hometown when she was 19.
After two and a half years of courting, the pair tied the knot in 1935 and went on to have 10 children – five daughters and five sons – over the next 20 years.
The centenarian is now a grandmother to 22, great-grandmother to 28 and great-great-grandmother to 10 children.
The couple was “very happily” married for nearly 50 years until James died aged 72 in 1985 – just before their golden anniversary.
Showing ‘absolute resilience’ through the hardest of times
Through her life, Mrs Donald has braved many challenges – including a serious stroke 25 years ago – and faced the loss of her husband and all of her siblings.
After the stroke, Mrs Gillespie, who was a senior nurse at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, and her sisters rallied around their mother to get her back on her feet and looked after her until she was 99.
In January 2013, Mrs Donald became a permanent resident of Westbank Home in Oldmeldrum, where staff and family held a “low-key” celebration yesterday to mark her 108th birthday.
Looking back on the lessons learnt from her mother, Mrs Gillespie praised her resilience and dedication to her family.
“As you get older, you can think back and reflect more on life,” she said.
“We were brought up with very little money, but we were brought up with values.
“My mum always wanted us to do well and ‘doing well’ to my parents was being honest, hard-working, treating people well and having manners.
“Although she seldom ever complained and we were not aware that mum and dad had very little money when we were children, I later realised the struggle that both would have had in terms of hard work to look after and bring up their family. It required absolute resilience.
“Their generation had it very hard, but if we ever had to stand on our own feet, my brothers and sisters and myself will all be able to do it because of my mum and dad.”
