Isobel Hirst, who has died aged 102, taught in Fife for many years but her heart remained firmly in her native Oban.
In her final days she spoke of returning to Oban and crossing the sea to Tir na nog, the land of the forever young in Gaelic mythology.
Isobel had taught at Bell Baxter High School and Elmwood college in Cupar but often spoke of the remarkable events she had seen as a child growing up on the west coast.
She was a witness to the moving sight of the last evacuees arriving in Oban from St Kilda, and watched convoys gather in the Sound of Mull before running the gauntlet across the Atlantic during the Second World War.
Isobel would happily share her recollections, some of which are held in the archives of Oban museum.
She was born in June 1920 to dentist Allan Wall and his wife, Agnes, a nurse and spent an idyllic childhood in the woods behind Oban and along the shore.
Her summers were spent at her uncle’s farm in Fife where she helped look after livestock and played football with local children.
Isobel was very academically able and won the Dux Medal at Oban High School in 1937 before going on to Glasgow University to study natural sciences, English and maths.
She was at university during the Clydebank Blitz and had a narrow escape when a bomb landed in the university grounds and blew out the large leaded-glass windows.
Fortunately heavy netting had been hung inside in anticipation of the raids which saved her from being showered by large shards of glass. When she went outside later she discovered the family in the university gatehouse sadly hadn’t been so lucky.
After university Isobel returned to her Argyll to teach science, English and maths in Kinlochleven and Oban High Schools.
Outdoors
She taught hockey and Scottish country dancing in the evenings and passed on her love of the outdoors when she took groups of pupils and Girl Guides on expeditions camping and climbing the mountains.
In December 1944 she married a young RAF pilot, Ken Terry, who was tragically killed just six months later while training US pilots who were heading for the war in the Pacific.
The loss of Ken was heartbreaking and in her later life she would remember him fondly. Loss was ever present at that time but Isobel’s generation had determination and an indomitable spirit.
A few years later she met Cecil Hirst who was working as a quantity surveyor on the hydro-electric schemes that were being built in the West Highlands around Oban.
Family life
It was love at first sight and they were married in March 1948. They moved to Edinburgh and after a couple of years David was born.
After a move to Dunblane, Lorna and Moira came along, followed by Frank who was born in 1958 after the family moved to Cupar.
Eventually as the children grew older she returned to teaching part-time in Cupar at Bell Baxter High School and lecturing in Elmwood College.
In March of 1984 Isobel lost her beloved Cecil to cancer, they adored each other and she missed him to the end of her life.
Devotion
She devoted herself to her family and went on to enjoy many happy times with her children and their partners, eight grandchildren, Grant, James, Emily, Louise, Callum, Fraser, Gregor and Matthew, four great-grandchildren, Ada, Aidan, Emmy and Charlie, and with her friends.
Isobel enjoyed many holidays including to Czechoslovakia in the communist era, France, California, Orkney and, of course, Oban.
Gardening was a passion throughout her life and she was never happier than when she was in the flower bed pulling out weeds or coaxing an unassuming twig into a thriving plant.
She enjoyed walking, reading and crossword puzzles which kept her brain sharp.
Isobel remained safe during lockdown and in 2020, on her 100th birthday, she received a message of congratulations from the Queen.
Her ashes will be interred in the family plot in Oban.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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