LINDA ISABEL GENTLES
23rd September 1944 – 25 December 2020
 
Linda actually started to write her life story some years ago. Here is what she wrote.

I was born in a castle in Scotland, not that I’m descended from the aristocracy you must understand, far from it, my ancestors were all hard-working folk, steelworkers, railway workers, spinners and weavers, builders and shop workers. As far as I know there was not a member of my family who owned their house until my uncle Tom bought his flat in the 1960s.

When I was born on the 23rd of September 1944 the world was still at war and sometimes bombs fell on Glasgow. Because of this the authorities had taken over Lennox Castle situated in the countryside north of Glasgow, to be used as an emergency hospital. My mother probably went there by bus! I was christened a few days after returning home. I was given the name Linda Isabel after my maternal grandmother Isabella Nelson nee Green. I think Linda was the name of a film star of the time.

In later years the castle was used as a mental hospital so you could get some funny looks when giving your place of birth to someone who did not know the real circumstances.

I was the first child of Duncan and Annie Henderson. They had been married in 1939 and moved into a council house comprising of two-bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room with both a front and back garden, all very different from the tenements they had been brought up in with a shared toilet on the landing for three families with as many as 14 people sharing. I remember being happy there at 21 Merchiston Street playing with the other kids in the street. Our relatives including the grandparents visited almost every Sunday. When I was five, I went to Carntyne Primary School which was about a 15-minute walk from home.
 
Sadly, this is as far as Linda got so I will try to complete the story.

Linda’s sister Anne came along in 1950 and Linda enjoyed being the big sister in their formative years. Anne sadly passed away in 2007 after a long illness and I know was sadly missed by Linda.

Linda passed her 11plus and moved to Whitehill Senior Secondary School in Glasgow (as an aside the singer Lulu failed her 11plus and went to Whitehill Junior Secondary School). Being bright, Linda was put in the top stream and studied subjects like Latin and History. I also attended the same school but as subjects like Latin were beyond me, Linda and I didn’t actually meet until 6th form where I became aware of this attractive girl sitting a few rows behind me in the English class.

Linda graduated from Jordanhill Teacher Training College in 1965 and started upon her first career as a primary school teacher. Linda taught in and around Glasgow in some pretty challenging schools. In these days the job interview consisted in negotiating the teaching premium for teaching in certain schools. Linda was an excellent no nonsense teacher respected by pupils and staff alike. Linda asked me to help her out on one occasion on the annual class outing.  There were about 40 of us on a bus and between trying to prevent the kids climbing the walls of Stirling Castle and running round the deck of the paddle steamer on Loch Katrine we were absolutely knackered by the end of the day but we managed not to lose any of the little blighters.

Linda and I married in 1969. Our first daughter Heather was born in 1972 and in 1977 we moved through my work to the far-off little town of Emsworth on the south coast of England. Our second daughter Ailsa was also born in 1977 followed by our son Alastair in 1979.

Linda’s second career to which she was totally devoted, was the raising of our three children and the running of the family home while I progressed my career. Linda was an accomplished gardener and for many years spent happy hours researching our family’s history. As well as this Linda did voluntary work at the Emsworth Museum and at the Emsworth Pastoral Centre where on Tuesdays she could be seen pouring out teas and coffees and of course chatting to people. For some years she was also a tree warden.

After the children had left home Linda tried some supply teaching but the world of teaching and discipline had changed. Linda therefore decided that she would like to re-train and qualify as a Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages which of course she successfully did. Linda spent the best part of the next 10 years very happily officiating mainly at marriages around east Hampshire. Linda often said this was best career move she ever made and I have to agree. I sometimes acted as driver to Linda so was able to see her in operation and how impressed I was. I have been going through some of Linda’s papers and came across a pile of Thank You cards. Here are just some of the comments of appreciation.
 
“Thank you for a beautiful and light-hearted ceremony. We were both expecting it to scary and daunting, but we both enjoyed it and Linda made us feel very comfortable. Drew says thank you for the tissue when he was profusely sweating” 
 
“We wanted to thank you for conducting such a wonderful ceremony. Your advice about needing to walk very slowly was certainly true”
 
“your words were beautiful and we both felt the ceremony really reflected the love we have for each other. Thank you, you do a wonderful job”
 
Linda finally joined me in retirement around 2007 and for our 40th anniversary we did a road trip around Scotland calling on many of our Scottish friends and relatives. In addition, over the following years we enjoyed trips to Italy and family holidays together. In 2015 we were indeed blessed with our grandson Arthur.

Then in 2015 our world changed when Linda was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s a most horrible condition and Linda’s quality of life inexorably deteriorated over the next six years.
 
How best then to sum up my dear wife? One of her work colleagues Yvonne wrote to me “Linda was such a lovely, gentle lady, with an unexpectedly dry and sometimes naughty sense of humour”. That’s a good start. Linda was also a devoted mother and loving wife, very loyal, sometimes unassuming but with a determination for fairness. She just loved to chat with people. As well as her family she also had an enduring love for her beloved Scotland. As the saying goes “you can take the girl out of Scotland as I did, but you can’t take Scotland out of the girl”.

Linda, you didn’t deserve to end your life the way it did but we will remember with joy and gratitude the happiness you brought to myself, your family and many many others.
 
Prepared and read by her husband Gordon Gentles
18th January 2021