Margaret R. Caldwell, 1932-2021 RIP.
Sorry to say that she passed away April 8th at around 11:00pm (Taipei Time) at the age of 88 and 11 months.
She strove to live pretty much on her own terms: From nurse to hillwalker to teacher to wife and mother to business lady to student again and to teacher again, her journey was long and winding as a Scottish stream that meanders its way to the ocean, flowing ever faster and wider as it goes.
She passed away comfortably at Loch Broom House, cared for until the end by real NHS ‘angels’ and returning her to where she began her own career, an idealistic young nurse in the NHS in 1949.
That she was made of ‘stern stuff’… I was going to say ‘girders’ but that’d be borrowing from a well-known drink ! became obvious to all when she successfully faced down many challenges over the years, too numerous to recount and too sad to recall.
Despite everything, she still found it in herself to reinvent her life after us kids left home. She ventured out into the world again in the mid-80’s and threw herself into her studies, reading, and completed two degrees along the way: Englist Litterature (1992) at Aberdeen University and Theology at Highlands & Islands University (20. She carved out a niche for herself, always dreaming of greater accomplishments! It’s that kind of stern stuff that really drove her.
Sadly, she’d had several strokes over the last few weeks, the final one left her rather poorly. She was a proud woman (and yet humble), so she would want people to remember her not as she died, but as she lived – with energy, drive, and a dash of bravado even to the point of foolishness at times! That is/was Mom. I will miss your spirit, your quest, and your drive. And so will many of us.
Kenneth (son)