Chris (Christina) Mutch was not one to let advancing years prevent her living life to the full.
The former Aberdeen teacher, who has died aged 83, took a flying lesson to mark her 80th birthday.
Then, when lockdown was imposed in March last year, Chris and her daughter Lesley helped ease the PPI shortage by making scrubs for the NHS.
Chris’s working life was spent teaching primary ones and twos and she loved every minute of it, Lesley said.
“She would have worked for nothing if she had to. She loved teaching. After she retired, she devoted her attention to her grandchildren.”
Chris was born in Aberdeen, one of Rab and Christina Morrison’s eight children. Her mother was a housekeeper and her father worked for the city cleansing department.
She was educated at Hilton school then Powis Academy before starting work as a weaver at Grandholm Mill.
In the mid 1950s she met her future husband Jim Mutch, a plumber who worked at Hall Russell latterly.
Winter weather
They married at the registrar’s in Aberdeen during the cold spell of February 1958 but had to scrap the reception because guests could not make it through the snow.
Chris and Jim went on to have three of a family, Brian, Derek and Lesley.
At the age of 33, after her family had grown up a bit, Chris enrolled at teacher training college in Aberdeen.
Talent
Lesley said: “She had a good few years at home and did not fancy going back to the factory so went to teacher training. She had always been very artistic and when the children were small she used to go to night classes to learn crafts.
“She did all sorts of handiwork and also made her own clothes.”
After a student placement at Rosehill, Chris secured a full-time post there and remained for three or four years.
Dedication
Next she spent a similar time teaching at Cornhill before spending the bulk of her career at Greenfern primary.
When Chris turned 80, Lesley asked her mother what she would like as a present, and she asked for a flying lesson.
She had had one lesson in 1973, when she won it in a raffle during a dinner dance at her husband’s work.
In the air
Chris soared over Aberdeen, Stonehaven and Montrose before returning to Dyce.
She loved the experience and was determined to repeat it.
In 2018, after six attempts were delayed by the weather, Chris, her instructor Bill Anderson and Lesley took off from Longside in a Piper Warrior and flew north to Pennan and back.
Lesley said: “She had hoped for another lesson for her 85th birthday but it was not to be.”
One of Chris’s last achievements was to help ease the PPI supply crisis during the first lockdown.
Helping hands
“We worked together using sewing machines and made 30 sets of scrubs and 30 wash bags, with material donated by Saks hair salon where I work,” said Lesley.
“It was intense work but mum wanted to make a difference.”
In her retirement, Chris and Jim travelled widely until his death seven years ago.
She continued to travel, often with Lesley, but loved spending time with her grandchildren, Fiona, Andrew, Heather, Cameron and Ethan.