Against the chill of a Glen Clova winter, Helen Whelan’s ashes drifted through the piercing wind on to the waters of the River South Esk below the Gella Brig.
And in that poignant moment, a devoted son fulfilled his mother’s dying wish to make the final journey from her adopted Australian homeland to the Angus beauty spot she had loved since childhood.
It was the very place which captivated Dundee-born Helen McDougall Kirkaldy when she camped there as a Girl Guide nearly 90 years ago.
And one she was determined to return to after more than seven decades of a fulfilling life Down Under.
Anniversary
On Wednesday, the poignant family gathering, led by 70-year-old son Colin, took place exactly two years to the day since Helen passed away.
But it has taken until now for Covid restrictions to ease sufficiently for her family to say their final, fond farewell together.
On the remaining abutments of old stone brig, the family group of Colin, Helen’s 93-year-old sister Ena Norrie from Kirriemuir, and nephews Richard and Stewart Norrie completed the emotional task.
Photographer and author Colin, from New South Wales, said he was proud to bring his mum’s lifetime journey full circle.
“She really was an extraordinary lady and she died with great dignity,” he said.
“Her funeral was a celebration of all that she was.
“We drank champagne and it was before the pandemic took hold so she received a proper send off from her many friends.”
Helen’s life
Helen was born in the gate house at Dundee cemetery in 1926 where her father was employed at the time.
The family later moved to Arbroath and after completing high school she joined the Wrens (Women’s Royal Naval Service). It was a step which changed the course of her life.
Helen qualified as a radio mechanic and rose to the rank of Petty Officer.
She was drafted to Sydney, and while travelling there met Leo Whelan, returning to his homeland from being a prisoner of war.
She came back to Angus after eight months to be demobbed.
But in 1947 she sailed again for Sydney to be with Leo and the couple were together until his death in 1997.
They had two sons, Colin and his older brother, Robert, now 72.
Clova’s enduring lure
“I have been back to mum’s native Scotland many times, and here to Glen Clova,” said Colin.
He spent decades as a professional sports photographer capturing the fortunes of Australia’s Wallabies rugby union side.
“She made sure all her affairs were in order when she died,” he said.
“And her wish to return to Glen Clova for her ashes to be scattered off the abutments of the Gella Brig was clear in her will.
“Mum was incredibly talented and was head of the creative embroiderers’ association of Australia.
“After she died, I saw that one of her beautiful handmade books was left open for me at a special page.
“It was poem she had written about Glen Clova.
“I was supposed to be here last March and was virtually on the plane when the pandemic got in the way of those plans.
“But it is fitting that we have been able to say goodbye on the second anniversary of her death.
“It has hit me today, but I am glad to be able to fulfil her wish and close the circle.”
An expression of love for Angus
The verse Colin discovered after his mother’s passing read:
Have you ever glimpsed Glen Clova when the broom upon its braes
Makes a pageantry of saffron at the Parting of the Ways?
Have you ever stood upon the brig above the Gella fair
And caught the happy murmuring of the clear cool river there?
Have you ever watched a fisher idling on a night in June
When the glen is all a’ shimmer with the lustre of the moon?
Have you heard the rabbits scamper or the lonely owl’s weird call
Or the echo from the hillside of a distant waterfall?
Oh Glen Clova’s fair in winter mantled deep in virgin snow
And when its braes are summer sheened not a sweeter spot I know.
