Elizabeth (Lizzie) was born at Heatherbloom cottage, at ‘the Knauchlands’ near Rothiemay in 1922. This photo (left) would have been taken circa. 2000.

She was the tenth of eleven children born to Robert Webster Coull and Christina Watson In the Huntly /Rothiemay area of Banffshire.

Her education had been to the Scottish standard of her day, and she was very well accomplished in the three ‘Rs’ and highly polished in the domestic ritual of raising 5 boys and a girl. As a girl, Lizzie had been ‘Churched’ and regularly attended Sunday School. Although not a Church-goer in adult life, she retained a strong set of morals throughout her entire life and had strong convictions about the rights and wrongs of this world. Her ‘moral compass’, to use a modern expression, was
rarely inaccurate.

In her early life she had worked ‘in service’ as a domestic servant to a banker, and to a minister of the Church of Scotland, and for a time had worked as an auxiliary nurse at Ladysbridge Hospital, Banff (closed 2003). A picture of her in uniform is shown here dated late 1930’s, approximately. In her later life as the children grew up Lizzie took part-time cleaning work, eventually retiring from working at Elgin College of Further Education (previously Elgin Academy, now part of UHI, the University for the Highlands and Islands) for many years.