The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
A quiet calm ‘angel’ whose actions saved the lives of her class pupils
A pupil caught up in the tragic events at St John’s 50 years ago says Nanette Hanson was “an angel”.
Aged 15 at the time, she still remembers how Mrs Hanson remained amazingly calm as she sought to protect her pupils.
Breaking her silence for the first time, the now 65-year-old, who did not want to be named, said: “I can see her face right now, just an angel. She was very, very quiet spoken, very nice, just a typical teacher but nice. And in those days you didn’t like a lot of the teachers.”
The grandmother credits Mrs Hanson and Marion Young with saving her life and those of her fellow pupils – many of whom she remains in contact with.
“It was a normal afternoon, somebody came to the door. I just thought it was another teacher and all of a sudden he came in with his gun. We thought it was a joke. Everybody thought it was a joke and we laughed,” she recalled.
“When he shouted, you knew that it wasn’t a joke.
“And then reality hit home and everybody sort of froze.”
Mone ordered them up against a wall before they were forced into a side room.
“She (Mrs Hanson) was quite calm. She was amazing. I think she saved our lives actually. She was so calm and she just kept asking him to let us out,” she added. “It was frightening but it was like ‘Is it really happening?’ You were just frightened. We were all huddled together. Some girls were crying. And then he kept asking for the girl. For Marion Young.
“She pleaded with him to let us out as well. She saved our lives as well and she tried to save the teacher’s life.”
Mrs Hanson was posthumously awarded the Albert Medal for bravery, while Ms Young was given the George Medal for a “most courageous act”.
While half a century has passed, the former pupil says it is a day that will never leave her .“You never forget. Anything that happens in Dundee – murder, killing – you just get that flashback of it,” she said.