Maureen Alexander, Golspie High School teacher - a tribute by her daughter

MAUREEN Sommerville Forbes, known locally as Maureen Alexander, retired English teacher at Golspie High School, died very unexpectedly on September 21 aged 79, a day before her 80th birthday.

I never really thought that Mum would become an old lady, as in my mind’s eye she was always the rather glamorous, vibrant and exciting woman who liked extremely hot curries and told fantastic stories about her adventures in India, Africa and The Highlands.

As an English Teacher at Golspie, she was popular with pupils and colleagues alike and involved herself with Burns suppers, the debating society and drama groups.

Room 6 was her room and she seemed (to me) to be there for all of the 25 years she was at the school.

Throughout her life my mum had a great love of literature, drama and poetry and she wanted to share this and it was this enthusiasm that she transmitted to her pupils. I still meet people in all sorts of places who look at me (because I do have a good passing resemblance) and say “Are you Mrs Alexander the English teacher’s daughter?” and when I say yes, this is followed by “I loved Mrs Alexander as my teacher she really taught me to love…drama, poetry, literature”……or simply, “she was good craic”.

And yes, my mum was an excellent raconteur and she was definitely good craic, I will miss that.

Many people will remember Maureen for her love of astrology and her attempts to guess anyone’s zodiac sign on first sight. Her friends will remember her for always knowing their birthdays and being a very diligent card sender. My mother had an absolutely marvellous memory for dates, but woe betide you if your birthday was not agreeable to her, she made no concessions.

Maureen was also a deeply superstitious woman, who refused to wear or have anything green on her person or in her house. At Beltane on the eve of May 1, she would gather rowan twigs and make rowan crosses with red wool to ensure the Sidhe (Gaelic fairy-folk) would be kept at bay for another year.

Again her friends would receive a rowan cross in person or by post.

Maureen’s eccentricities were many and multifarious, but at the core of this was a deeply intelligent, creative person who was very interested in people and what they had to say and think. Maureen was open minded and before her time in her tolerance of difference. She gathered people from all walks of life because they were simply good people and because she had no snobbery, she was always herself.

Pets were a large part of Maureen’s life and she had many and varied animal companions throughout the years, most notable two potbellied pigs that munched through much of her furniture. I have a photo of mum as a three-year-old with her first pet dog and up until about three years ago she had nearly always had dogs as companions, although cats did come a close second.

She gave generously to animal charities throughout her life and in particular supported The Dogs Trust and the SSPCA.

Maureen was born on September 22, 1936, in the Victoria Jute Works in Telinipara in the Hooghly District, Bengal India, the only child of Thomas Forbes, a jute merchant, and Ann Forbes, née Ogilvie, who both came originally from in or around Arbroath.

She left India just before Partition in 1947 at the age of nine to attend boarding school in Scotland in Bridge of Allan.

She went on to gain a degree in English from Edinburgh University immediately leaving Scotland at the age of 22 to live and teach in Nairobi, Kenya.

My mother and father, David Alexander, then returned briefly to London in the early 1960s where I was born. We returned to Africa, this time living in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) where mum continued to teach.

In the late 1960s the family moved again, this time to Sutherland, where my mother taught English at Golspie High School until she retired in the early 1990s.

After living near Dornoch for some years, Maureen made her final move to the Scottish Borders in the early 2000s where she returned to being known by her maiden name of Forbes. Mum wanted to be near her family in Edinburgh and the Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire.

Mum felt spiritually at home at the Samye Ling and had a 25 year connection, latterly becoming a Buddhist herself.

At her request Maureen was cremated at Melrose Crematorium on September 30. There was a simple ceremony where immediate family and friends attended.

She wanted her ashes to be taken to Samye Ling and placed in the Victory Stupa there. Later in October there will be a ceremony at Samye Ling for all the families of those whose ashes are interred in the Stupa.

Maureen is survived by me and my partner, Martin Lyndon, and her grandson Peter Lyndon.

There will be a “Remembering Maureen” afternoon tea on Saturday, November 5, little hall at Fountain Road Church in Golspie from 2-5pm to which all friends, ex-colleagues and pupils of Maureen’s are invited to join me, her family and friends to remember good times – Katie Alexander.

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