Tribute paid to village 'darling'
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A TINY Sutherland community is in mourning following the death of its popular sub-postmistress.
Residents at Rosehall and district have paid tribute to Leila Wood, who died on July 15 at the age of 73 after a long battle with breast cancer.
A native of Finland, Leila trained as a nursing anaesthetist in her home country.
She met her husband John, who was born in Southern Rhodesia but brought up in Surrey, by chance when he was hitch-hiking round Europe in 1969.
He recalled: “I was looking for a lift to travel south but nobody was stopping for me. Leila was on the same road hitch-hiking too, from her granny’s house to her parents’ house.
“She had succeeded in getting a lift and when she saw me, suggested to her driver that he picked me up too, which he did. We shared a car for about 50kms and that was it!
“It was a one-off, miraculous meeting and it will be 50 years on August 5 since I had that fateful lift.”
The two exchanged letters for more than a year before marrying in the Finnish Church in Rotherhithe, East London in 1971.
Leila achieved her State Registered Nurse status in the UK after a seven-month training stint at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London.
She went on to work at Southampton General Hospital and later at Luton and Dunstable Hospital before studying occupational health working for Vauxhall Motors. She then ran the occupational health department at Luton airport.
Music-loving John wor-ked as a manager with HMV in Southampton and Stratford and later for music distributor Conifer Records. He is now an internet retailer specialising in vinyl.
The Woods moved to Scotland in 2002 in search of “space and fresh air” following Leila’s breast cancer diagnosis in 1998. She took over as part-time sub-postmistress at Altass, a position she held until shortly before her death.
She quickly became a stalwart of the community and was involved with Rosehall Church of Scotland as well as the local Four Seasons Club.
A window display at the church’s recent flower festival was dedicated to Leila, who was a keen gardener and turned a “bare patch of ground” at her home, a former church, into a productive garden full of flowers and vegetables.
Rosehall resident Lily Byron said: “Leila was an absolute darling. After she came, she took over the running of the wee post office in Altass for two half days a week and made everyone welcome. You couldn’t go into it without getting tea or coffee and cake.
“She was a great supporter of the community and would bake for every community event that was held. She made these wonderful Swedish biscuits. She really was the kindest person in the world.”
A private funeral was held last Friday and a memorial service is now being planned to take place next month at Rosehall Church of Scotland.
She is survived by John and her wider family in the south of England and Finland.
