There, she soon fell in with Heckie Mackay, one of the "Browns" from Newlands, striking sparks from the road with his motorbike as he swung in for a drink at the bar.

The two were married at Thurso, Phyllis aged 18, in June 1949, and sparks continued to fly between them over the 53 years of their marriage, ending in Heckie's passing in the summer of 2002.

Heckie worked for the Forestry Commission when they first married but, with the birth of their first son, Tommy, they needed accommodation and Heckie took up a farm labourer's job with a tied house, at Mid-Fearn in Easter Ross.

This soon became a popular stopping off place for travellers from the far north and, a few years later, when the family, now with John added, moved back to Bettyhill, the joke was that the Easter Ross folk had to open the Lady Ross Hotel to compensate for the Mackay family's move!

Certainly, Phyllis's house, wherever it was, was always a most welcoming one and that remained the case to the very last.

In Bettyhill they stayed initially in the Free Church Manse, where their third son Philip, known as Guy, was born, before moving to 10 Gordon Terrace when, in 1958, the birth of James made the family complete.

During this period of their lives, Heckie developed septic arthritis and spent four years in and out of hospital. The burden of looking after the family, both domestically and financially, fell largely to Phyllis but, with the support of friends and neighbours, she rose admirably to the challenge, including a return to work in the Bettyhill Hotel to supplement the family income.

Fortunately, Heckie recovered sufficiently from his illness to find work as a storeman for UKAEA at Dounreay and, crofting being in his blood, also managed to acquire the tenancy of 123 Newlands, together with its crofthouse, and the family moved there in 1962.

Though a townee by birth, Phyllis had no qualms about country work and partnered Heckie in his crofting enterprises just as much as she did in his ceilidhing as "Fourwinds" became a ceilidh house par excellence where friend and stranger were made most welcome and where the craic was always good.

Those happy days were marred in 1983 by the death of their third son, Philip 'Guy', in an offshore accident but, characteristically, Phyllis and Heckie turned even this into something positive. The "Guy Cup" became the north west's premiere football competition, run by the family in memory of their football fanatic son, a competition now in its 26th year.

Phyllis, an inveterate smoker, was dogged by health problems for much of her life, none of which seemed to have anything to do with her addiction to the weed. She underwent numerous operations, all of which she bore with stoicism and humour, once requesting the surgeon, instead of sewing her up, to install a zip! During the last six years of her life, the family were twice called to her bedside in the expectation that she would not survive but, against the odds, she always pulled through.

She seemed indestructible, continuing to drive round the village (once with a broken wrist) to visit her many friends, doing the rounds of the houses at New Year, meeting up with her buddies in the Farr Bay Inn every Sunday for lunch and always ready to launch in to conversation on any topic under the sun.

She was entirely forthright in character and never hesitated to call a spade a spade no matter who she was talking to. What you saw was what you got with Phyllis and, given all that, when the word went round, it was hard to believe that she was gone.

But no-one is indestructible, even a character of Phyllis's stature, and, following a successful operation for an aneurism, from which she initially made a good recovery, she slipped from this world in Raigmore Hospital, a loving mother with her sons at her bedside, on the 11th of November.

Her funeral at a packed Church of Scotland in Bettyhill, on Saturday 14th November, was conducted by Reader, Mrs Mary Stobo, and, at Clachan Cemetery, the pallbearers were: Messrs Tommy, John and James Mackay, sons; Messrs Fraser, Rory and Barry Mackay, grandsons; Mr Donald (Dall) Mackay and Mr Maurice Mackay, family friends. Jim A Johnston

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---