A lasting tribute to a Fife woman has been created after her husband set up the coffee shop they had always dreamed of opening together.
Band Corporal Shona McKeown had been married for just 12 weeks and was on the verge of returning to civilian life after a career in the Royal Marines when she died of a brain tumour in January this year aged just 39.
Her husband Frank was devastated, but he took the courageous decision of pushing ahead with their plans to open a café at Cowane’s Hospital in Stirling, a 17th century almshouse and one of the city’s most historic buildings.
Shona was originally from Dyce but had been based at Rosyth, while the couple had bought a house in Cairneyhill which Frank is now renovating in the way they both planned.
The café was officially opened on Monday morning, where the Marines, Frank and his aunt Marion presented the Brain Tumour Charity with £8,900 raised in Shona’s memory.
“We had talked about having a little coffee shop somewhere,” he said.
“It was an idea she really loved because she liked meeting people so much.
“I think she would have been great at it, she was such a chatterbox and people just fell in love with her as soon as they spoke to her.
“She had travelled the world and loved all the different foods she found in different countries.
“After she passed we suddenly heard there was an opportunity at Cowane’s and that was it.
“Once I’d decided to make that leap nothing was going to stop me setting up a café.
“It’s a way to honour Shona and to carry on our dreams.”
In September 2013, Shona met Frank, who was taking a course in sound engineering at the time, and they soon fell in love.
Shona had previously been diagnosed with a tumour but the outlook was good.
The couple began to plan a future together and a year after they met, during a holiday in Spain with friends, Frank popped the question.
He said: “It was a year after we’d met and we were on holiday in Spain, and that’s when I popped the question and was lucky enough for her to say ‘yes’.”
Just a day later though Shona collapsed and, on returning to the UK, it was discovered that the tumour was back.
Chemotherapy went well at first but towards the end of the year matters took a turn for the worse and on Christmas Eve 2014 she was told she needed urgent surgery.
Frank continued: “She was incredible. Even though all this was happening Shona was busy making wedding arrangements. By the time she went into hospital almost everything had been organised – the only thing left was the seating plan.”
The operation took place in January 2015 and was a success, but shortly afterwards Shona suffered a bleed in her brain and left her with restricted movement on the left side of her body. Medics told the couple the news they were dreading – that Shona’s illness was terminal – but the couple went ahead with their wedding.
“That just made us all the more determined,” Frank recalled.
“We didn’t tell anyone about what the doctors had told us because we wanted it to be a big, happy day.
“And what Shona really wanted was to be able to walk down the aisle herself, without any support or assistance – and that’s what she did.”
Captain Daryl Powell, director of music with The Band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Scotland and Shona’s former commanding officer, described her passing as a “huge loss” to all the band members.
“She epitomised the ethos and standards of the Royal Marines in every respect; hugely determined and committed in all she did,” he said,
“A charity auction was organised to raise awareness and funds for The Brain Tumour Charity, this was a fitting event to mark her passing.
“The band were on tour in the US and Canada early in 2016 and consequently were unable to attend the funeral, so the fact that we were able to contribute this money, and present it in a week which culminates with a memorial service in her honour, is our way of celebrating her life and career.”
