Dorothy Rattray, a Dundee-born nurse with a passion for travel, has died aged 95.
Her work took her to Africa and the Middle East where one of her achievements was helping to establish a hospital in Dubai.
She also travelled for pleasure and once drove from The Gambia to Dundee, crossing the Sahara Desert on her way.
Dorothy retired aged 60 and lived with her mother in Dundee before moving to Perth in later years.
Dorothy and her twin sister Eileen were born weighing just one pound on November 27 1927 and were not expected to survive.
But they defied the odds and thrived, growing up in Airlie Street with parents Dorothy and Douglas and brothers Graham and Murray.
War years
During the Second World War, the family were evacuated from Dundee to Guay in Perthshire, and eventually to Watery Butts outside Errol.
After the war, the family returned to Dundee where Dorothy attended Dundee High School with the rest of her siblings, for her last year of schooling.
Better known as Dott, she went on to Kingscross Hospital, Dundee, to train as a fever nurse before completing midwifery training in Aberdeen.
She worked across Scotland before completing tropical medicine nurse training in London and continuing her career abroad.
During the 1960s she worked in Aden then moved to a malaria hospital in The Gambia before nursing in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and finally Dubai where she was instrumental in setting up the new hospital.
She remained in Dubai for 17 years before finally retiring at 60 as an assistant matron in 1987 and returning to Scotland.
Stylish
However, Dott, known for her elegance, never fully readapted to the colder Scottish climate and was known to wrap up in her finery even in summer.
Her niece, Linsey Morgans said: “Her love of travelling did not stop at work. She visited many places including Libya, Lebanon, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Egypt to name but a few.
“She once drove from The Gambia to Dundee, up river, across the Sahara, ferry from Tripoli to Sicily and back to Scotland. Well before package holidays she also visited Tenerife at a time where the ship had to anchor offshore while they got ferried ashore in a small boat to the only hotel on the island.”
It was her love for her family that saw her return to Dundee. When her mother died in 1996, Dott moved to Perth, but continued to travel.
In 1997, in her 70th year, she travelled with her sister and brother-in-law to attend her nephew, Murray’s wedding in New Zealand.
Books
As an avid reader, preferring biographies she had a great fascination for people and their lives, particularly those who had suffered adversity.
Dott loved real life spy books and learning as much as she could about the gathering and delivering of intelligence during the Second World War. It was a passion she enjoyed sharing with everyone.
Linsey said: “My aunt remained selfless, loving and thoughtful right to the end, a true matriarch who was loved by her entire family, always interested in what everyone was getting up to and sorely missed her long-term friendships.”
You can read the family’s announcement here.
Conversation