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Ena Ross: Highlander who became nursing tutor in Aberdeen dies aged 96

Former senior nurse, Ena Ross, who has died aged 96.
Former senior nurse, Ena Ross, who has died aged 96.

Ena Ross, who grew up in the Highlands before forging a nursing career in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, has died aged  96.

In the immediate post-war period, she trained at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary then rose to become a sister in frontline nursing.

During the 1970s, she moved to Aberdeen to support her father and began work as a nurse tutor at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Ena was a regular worshipper at St Mary’s Cathedral in Aberdeen and was a member of several Catholic associations and prayer groups.

Journeys of faith

Together with her friend, Elsie Hammond, Ena made numerous pilgrimages with the Diocese of Aberdeen including to Lourdes and Rome.

Ena was born on December 27 1926 at the west end of Glen Strathfarrar, one of the long glens that run west from Strathglass.

Her father, Jimmy Ross, had come to the glen to work as a stalker and gamekeeper for the Lovat Estate.

He married local girl, Violet Cameron. Violet’s family was Catholic, as were many in the Strathglass area, and Jimmy too became a Catholic.

Ena was brought up in the Catholic faith and like her father was a devoted member of the church.

Sadly, Ena was just four years old when her mother died. Her father remained at home, but she went to live with her grandmother at Milton at the bottom of the glen, and it was there she grew up.

School days

She went to school at Struy, about a mile away, and then to secondary school in Beauly.

Although she was a star pupil, the family allowed her to leave school instead of going on to get her Highers, because Ena had decided she was going to become a nurse.

Too young to start nurse training right away, she worked during the war years in the Beauly employment office, acquiring a thorough knowledge of everyone in Beauly and the surrounding district.

Training

In 1945 she was able to start nurse training in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Though she had brief periods nursing  in Inverness and Aberdeen, most of her long nursing career was spent in Edinburgh.

By the time she qualified in 1949 her father had married Meg, who was from Lossiemouth, and they went to live in Aberdeen where Jimmy re-trained as a surveyor.

After a successful career in Edinburgh, Ena took on a further challenge in the 1970s, and went back to study to become a nurse-tutor.

Teaching role

When her stepmother became very ill in the late 1970s, Ena took a post as nurse-tutor in Aberdeen so that she could support her father. After Meg died, Ena continued to look after her father in the house they shared in Rosebery Street.

Ena retired in 1986 and although she had episodes of quite serious ill health she recovered from these and continued to live a full and busy life, keeping in touch with friends and old colleagues and with her numerous Ross relations.

She enjoyed trips abroad and quite regular trips to Inverness-shire to re-visit the scenes of her youth. Ena never forgot her Strathglass roots and took great pleasure in trips up to Glen Strathfarrar to see her birthplace.

Ena continued to be an active member of the church and was also involved in voluntary work, such as Crossroads Care and was a supporter of the Sacred Heart convent at Queen’s Cross, the Ladies Circle and the Catholic Nurses Guild.

You can read the formal announcement here.

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