CREDITON Parish Church was full for the funeral service of Isobel Margaret Mortimer of Uton, near Crediton, who passed away in her sleep on October 2, aged 77 years.

She was the beloved wife of the late John, dear mother of George and Fiona, Iain and Jennifer and Elizabeth and a much loved granny.

Her son George read the following tribute at the service:

“I expect you all realised that Mother was Scottish. She was born at home at Keillour Farm near Perth on January 7, 1938. She was the oldest of three children and her brother and sister are here with us today.

“She started school at Morrison’s Academy in Crieff, staying with her Granny McLaren during the holidays. There she helped with the milk rounds, delivering the milk bottled from the granny’s farm, before counting up all the money at the end of the day.

“At the age of eight she contracted rheumatic fever which adversely affected her heart, causing her to be short of breath and unable to take part in school athletics. But it did mean that when moving cattle, her brother and sister had to run around the field while mother was left to block a gap, a job she regularly did for the rest of her life.

“At 18 she joined the church of Scotland in Muthill, where four of her uncles were elders, but this also meant that when she eventually moved to Devon, the Vicar of Crediton, Father Bray, insisted that she was not a member of the church of England and would have to be confirmed before she could receive communion in his church.

“At 18 she did a six month dairy practical course on the Strathallan Estate, staying with her Aunt Elizabeth at nearby Drumness Farm. She then went on to Glasgow to study for her Scottish diploma in Agriculture before going to the West of Scotland College to gain both her Diploma in Dairy Husbandry and National Diploma in Agriculture.

“After leaving college in 1959 she saw a job advertised for a farmhouse cheesemaker and arranged to go for an interview but much to her parents surprise it was 500 miles away in Devon.

“So off she went to a farm called Court Barton, near Crediton, where she got the job and moved into the farmhouse to lodge with her employers, the Cushy family.

“With no family or friends living in Devon, she joined Newton St Cyres YFC, going on to be chairman in 1962 and was on the advisory committee until shortly before she died.

“She made many friends and really enjoyed being part of the YFC movement, travelling with it to Denmark, which was the only time she went abroad.

“And it was at Young Farmers that she met John Mortimer, who lived on the neighbouring farm at Uton.

“She must have made an impression on my father as he persuaded his friend, John Molland, to go with him on holiday to Scotland, just so he could give my mother a lift back to Devon, after meeting her parents on their family farm.

“They were married in Scotland in 1963 and mother’s family thought, that their new son-in-law must be well-liked for so many of his friends and family to undertake the long journey to attend the wedding.

“After a hair-raising ride being pushed by their guests on a railway luggage trolley outside the Station Hotel, they set off to honeymoon on the Isle of Skye.

“Setting up home at Uton, she was soon busy looking after her first two children, when in 1968 she underwent major heart surgery at Southampton, to replace a valve, a result of the rheumatic fever she suffered as a child. But with the help of a nanny and a short stay to recuperate in Scotland she was soon back to strength and her third child, my brother, was born in 1969.

“To meet other young families, she took us to the local playgroup, where she was told one of the other mothers was also Scottish. After further enquiries she found out that she was called Brenda and was married to Wilson Mitchell, who mother knew from Scotland.

“Now Wilson was on the same cheese making course as mother, and sometimes gave her a ride home from college. But mother had never met Brenda, as Wilson used to drop mother off, before travelling a few hundred yards to pick up his future wife. Brenda always questioned Wilson why the seat was still warm but it was another 10 years before she met the owner of the hot backside and they remained close friends to this day.

“Mother had joined Sandford WI and was elected to the county executive, where she held the post of Home Economics chairman, and trained as a cookery and preserves judge.

“While her children attended QE she became a parent governor on the schools governing body, keen to ensure that parents had a say on how the school was run.

“Mother was also very involved with the Devon County Show, serving eight years as a Catering Steward and another seven years as Chief Steward of Catering, before being made an Honorary Life Vice President.

“Our family holidays were trips up to Scotland to see mother’s family and friends, quite often at Christmas as the McLaren family held a large gathering in the same hotel used for mother’s wedding reception. This way we were able to see most of our Scottish relatives on one day. Sometimes the weather would break and we would pack up the car and head for home with father determined not to get snowed in in Scotland, but not forgetting the half cwt of porridge oats that were used to feed her growing sons over the winter.

“In 1993 mother came up to me and asked if I could take her to Exeter bus station in the morning, as she had to go to London about her heart, I said that Father hadn’t said anything about it, but she just replied: ‘oh, I haven’t told him yet as he would only worry, so I’ll let him know in the morning when I get up!’

“So there I was seeing her onto the 5am bus off to the Royal Brompton Hospital, Chelsea, for heart surgery, when discharged she hitched a lift home on a patient ambulance which she had somehow heard was already heading for Devon. That was mother, still the same self-reliant person who at 21 had made her way across the country to start a new life in Devon.

“In later years she looked after the coarse fishery on the farm at Salmonhutch. She could often be seen cutting the grass with her ride on mower or on the quad bike checking up on the fishermen.

“Occasionally she took father’s old mobility scooter, which meant she could have fun surprising them as they wouldn’t hear her coming.

“After father died, mother stayed living with us at Uton Farmhouse enjoying being at the centre of farm activities, with her front room regularly used for farm meetings, she always knew what was going on.

“She used to keep a tin of sweets next to her chair in case any of her eight grandchildren called round.

“When TB Testing generally starts at 5am, mother would keep a watch out of the kitchen window to assess how things were going, getting a fry up ready for breakfast to be consumed during a suitable break between groups, by vet and helpers. So the question is now, which one of her boys will cook? Or will it be cornflakes for all?

“This year, mother has had various visits by her brother, and first cousins from Scotland, along with her sister who has been regularly coming down during the Church flower festival week since my father’s death. And during her last regular Sunday telephone call to Aunty Dorothy, she had told her how pleased she was that her sons had bought Court Barton, the reason she’d first come to Devon, as it was something she had asked our father to do for many years.

“Mother always liked to be on-the-go, whether farm, fishery or representing the family at an event, regularly coming home, saying that somebody had said to her ‘we thought they’d be sending you’.

“My brother and I had our cornflakes with her every morning and saw her throughout the day, but her heart and kidneys were struggling, and on a visit to the doctor, the subject of palliative care came up.

“She was asked what sort of care would she like if and when she could no longer get out and about?

“To this she replied: ‘a bullet’. Mother was hard as nails and would have made a lousy patient.

“We found her asleep on a Friday morning, the way she would have wanted to go. So now mother has gone to Heaven to be reunited with our Father, and when she arrived, I can see father turning round and saying: “finally someone who knows how I like my custard”.

Donations, if desired, in memory of Isobel, for Crediton Parish Church, can be sent to A White and Sons, Albert Road, Crediton.

Alan Quick

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Isobel Mortimer.

If needed?

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Isobel Mortimer with her late husband John some years ago.

Alan Quick

EDITORIAL MANAGER

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