Popular art teacher Fiona Bushe, who taught in Aberdeenshire, Orkney and Shetland, and later ran classes in Westhill, has died aged 75.
Childhood in India
Fiona Mary Slessor Bushe was born on April 4 1947 in Kerala, India.
The only daughter of Kathleen and Donald Marr, who was a tea plantation manager, she had one brother.
Fiona loved her time in India. The close proximity to wildlife, including her favourites – elephants – and living in the mountains provided an enchanting childhood.
She began her education in an Indian convent school but later became a boarder back in Scotland, at Albyn School, Aberdeen.
Every two years she would make a trip to Kerala because while she resided in Scotland her parents remained in India.
Highland holidays
Fiona’s summers and free time were spent with cousins, aunts and uncles from the Huntly area. Her dad and his relatives had grown up on a farm there, and her father’s brother was James Marr -one of Shackleton’s scouts.
The founder of Port Lockroy, a settlement which has Antarctica’s only British Post Office, her family was well known with long standing ties to the area.
Fiona went on to study English literature at Aberdeen University and then completed a fine arts degree in Edinburgh. The young woman who loved Highland dancing developed a growing passion for teaching.
Artistic legacy
Using her art knowledge and desire to work with children she became a peripatetic art teacher flying to Orkney and Shetland regularly.
In 1984 Fiona married Fred Bushe, a sculptor and former lecturer who founded the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden.
The couple lived in Strathdon before moving to Lumsden, and later that year daughter Anna was born.
“For most of my life my mum was teaching Aberdeenshire’s children art. She worked all over Donside, Lumsden, Crathie… she’d help the children make little gifts for the Queen,” said Anna Bushe.
Westhill art classes
After Fiona took early retirement, she continued to work as a supply teacher in different secondary schools and then started an art class in Westhill.
Anna added: “She ran that class for years – and it was only supposed to be for younger children. However, many of those attending loved it so much they stayed until their older teenager years.”
After a protracted illness, Fred passed away in 2009.
Animal lover Fiona spent time with her horses and enjoyed creating portraits of pets.
She printed her own Christmas cards based on an image she had painted and had a deep interest in local history, particularly that of the Scalan Trail around Tomintoul.
Companionship
Fiona later found love and companionship with Atholl Highlander Tom Macdonald. Friends for many years she and Tom, who works at Blair Atholl Castle, became partners.
Fiona’s funeral took place on Tuesday May 10. You can read the family’s announcement here.
