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Muriel Carrier, a long time resident of Carradale, died aged 96 on 12 April 2012, Muriel who lived at Portrigh had a long association with Carradale. Her parents spent holidays in Carradale when Muriel was a little girl and she has been visiting ever since then. Muriel bought Cala Sith, Portrigh in 1966 and when her husband Ken retired in 1977 they moved permanently to Carradale.
Unfortunately Ken died after only two years of retirement. However Muriel became very involved with the village life in Carradale. Together with her friend Nan Loudon they got involved with the Carradale playgroup for over ten years. This involved ferrying children and teaching them nursery rhymes among other things.
Muriel also contributed to village life assisting with the delivery of ‘Meals on Wheels’ to the elderly some of whom were younger than Muriel. Muriel was involved with the golf club and acted for a time as secretary for the Ladies’ Committee.
A few years ago Muriel and her great friend, Crystal Paterson, were invited to the Carradale School to recount their memories of life during the Second World War. This was a great success and the children actively participated in the question and answer session learning first hand of the hardships that were endured during this period.
About 18 months ago Muriel found it difficult to live in her home alone and moved to live with her daughter, Denise Stewart and her husband Dave in Newport-on-Tay. Early this year Muriel moved to St Serfs Residential Care home a few minutes distant from Denise’s house. She had only been there a short while when she had a fall and fractured a small bone in her pelvis. She was taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee where she died peacefully after being there for about a week.
Muriel’s funeral took place in the Carradale & Saddell Parish Church on Saturday 21 April. The service was conducted by Matthew Ramsay who gave a very personal memory of Muriel
Readings by Denise Stewart and Gavin Carrier (Muriel’s younger son from Sydney, Australia) were followed by tributes from Michael Carrier (Muriel’s older son from Johannesburg, South Africa) as follows
“Its great to see such a large turnout for Muriel’s funeral. Thank you all for attending. I would like to say a few words on behalf of Muriel’s children – Denise, Gavin, myself and of course Jill who sadly died four years ago. We always knew that Mum and Dad intended to retire to their cottage in Carradale. Mum had been visiting Carradale since she was a little girl and always had great affection for Carradale. She bought their Portrigh cottage in 1966 and when they did eventually retire to their Cala Sith cottage in 1979 all of us children were delighted with the way they settled in and were accepted by the community”.
“Unfortunately Dad only lived here for two years before he passed away. Even though Mum was left on her own it did not deter her from getting involved in many community activities such as helping with the playgroup, delivering meals on wheels, supporting the golf club and of course enjoying life to the full. During the time she was on her own, apart of course from her beloved dogs and cats, she always enjoyed great support from and friendship with a great many of Carradale’s people”.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to all these very special people who came into Mum’s life and provided great support for her and the many who became her firm friends. Although all of us children lived quite some distance from Mum it was of great comfort to know that she was living in a very caring and supportive community”.
“In particular I would like to thank Archie and Crystal Paterson who on many occasions went way beyond the call of duty to support and help Mum. Both Mum and Crystal became great friends and shared many common interests particularly in animals and nature in general. They shared many happy times together. I know that Mum would want both Archie and Crystal to be thanked for the great contribution they made to her enjoyment of life. I think some of the happiest years of Mum’s life were spent in Carradale”.
“Without doubt we all thought we had the best Mum in the world. She was unassuming and always put others before herself. She would often go out of her way to help others in any way she could. Although Mum is gone now I think that we will always have many, many happy memories of her. She will be truly missed by all of us.”
And Garry Stewart (Muriel’s eldest grandson from London) as follows
“I’d like to say a few words on behalf of all the grandchildren (there are 12 of us and five great grandchildren) and try to tell you how we remember Gran and what she meant to us”.
“I think everyone would agree that she was an exceptionally kind and thoughtful person. For as long as I can remember she always accommodated people and made time for people whether it was a quick chat in the street or on the phone, someone popping in for coffee or someone coming to stay with her. It was never too much trouble for her and people were always made to feel special and welcome. Her house was always busy with people passing through and she was often still eating her lunch late afternoon because of all the unexpected visitors she’d had”.
“She loved Carradale, she loved all the friends she had here and she loved her family dearly. In addition to that anyone who knew even remotely knew all about her love for animals. Animals, and dogs in particular played a huge part in her life and in my opinion the hundreds if not thousands of miles she walked with her dogs (and obviously Dusty the cat that used to accompany her over the golf course) played a huge part in keeping her fit and active to a grand old age. Her animals truly were part of her family and she used to sit down with an aperitif and a packet of crisps before dinner and it would be one crisp for one dog, one crisp for another dog, one crisp for the cat and one crisp for her and so it continued until the crisps were gone”.
“It wasn’t only her pet animals she loved though. She rescued numerous wayward lambs every spring that managed to get caught in the fence opposite her house and I’m sure the birds in her garden were among Scotlands best fed, she was forever putting bread, raisins and other titbits out there for them. I think most of the grandchildren remember gran putting a pair of wellies on them and dragging them up to the reserve and marched around looking for the elusive Carradale goats”.
“Another passion of Gran’s was her garden, she loved being out there and often sat in her greenhouse with a cup of tea reading the newspaper. She enjoyed gardening and on many occasions was happy to work out there until the infamous midges mounted attack after relentless attack and drove her inside”.
“She was always willing to help and I can remember her helping out with the children at nursery and then going on to deliver meals on wheels. She used to talk about taking who she referred to as her old people to Campbeltown to go shopping as they were too old to drive themselves. It always amused me when I asked how old they were and they were invariably younger than her by quite a margin! For a long time age seemed to pass her by and she had a great ability to relate to all generations young or old”.
“Gran had a great memory and was always a teller of great stories. As far back as I can remember she always had a tale to tell and even though over the years we began to hear stories that we’d heard before we never tired of them, she told them so well. She never forgot a birthday and even in her later years we always got a birthday card and a Christmas card. Even when it became difficult for her to write the cards kept coming She always had a sympathetic ear when something weighed heavily on your mind and always gave wise advice when it was called for. She was incredibly approachable and was a very loving and caring grandmother. We’ll all miss her, a lot.”
The funeral was followed by the burial at Brackley Cemetery. A lone piper played Mull of Kintyre and Highland Cathederal as Muriel was taken to her final resting place back in Carradale.
Without doubt Muriel lived life to the full and thoroughly enjoyed her life in Carradale. She was well liked and respected and had many good friends in the Carradale community.
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