The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Centenarian Christina Fisken
Illness forced Christina (Chrissie) Fisken to give up school aged 10 but she taught herself English, maths and French and went on to become a national crossword champion.
The centenarian, who died in Arbroath last month, had a lifelong passion for learning, reading and language.
Her daughter Elaine Chamberlain said her mother’s schooling ended when she contracted TB aged 10.
She was ill for a long period but a clergyman in her home village of Barry by Carnoustie brought her books and she was able to catch up on lessons.
“The minister kept bringing her books and she kept absorbing them and by the time she started work at 13 she had mastered languages and maths,” said Elaine.
“I think that is where her passion for word games came in. She even went on to win the Daily Telegraph crossword competition.”
Mrs Fisken was born in 1920 in Barry to tenant farmer William Mitchell Reid and his wife Christina Mclean Smith.
She began her education at Barry school but her father’s death when she was 10 coincided with her contracting TB and she finished her formal education.
Just before her 14th birthday, Mrs Fisken began work in service with the Bonar family in Broughty Ferry.
While in her teens she met French polisher George Craigie Fisken at a dance at Carnoustie YMCA.
They got engaged on her 19th birthday, September 3 1939, the day war broke out.
Her husband enlisted with the Border Regiment and was stationed in the south of England during the early part of the war when the couple’s first two children were born.
Mr Fisken later fought in the Burma and India campaigns including at the Battle of Kohima and was commissioned as a major.
He was demobbed in 1946 and returned to Carnoustie and began working as a stockman looking after pigs.
Over the years, he worked for farmers across Scotland and England building up champion pig herds and showing them at agricultural shows.
In 1979 Mr Fisken broke his leg at work and this prompted a move back north.
He got a job working as French polisher at RM Condor, Arbroath, while Mrs Fisken worked in catering at BT in Dundee.
Mr Fisken later went on to take charge of the repair and maintenance of service housing at Condor.
Both were keen country dancers but a fall 39 years ago forced Mrs Fisken to give it up. Instead, the couple took up bowls, playing a Lochlands Bowling Club, Arbroath, and the indoor club in the town. They both went on to hold president positions at the indoor club.
Mr and Mrs Fisken’s eldest son Flight Lieutenant George C Fisken died while serving in the RAF in 1968.
When she died, Mrs Fisken had 11 grandchildren, 15 greatgrandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.