WINGS OF AN ANGEL
A MUM was yesterday buried in a custom-made Red Arrows coffin - complete with foldable wings, a tailfin and cockpit. Erimar McPherson, 86, loved the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team’s displays and was adamant she didn’t want a traditional funeral. She planned for the future and paid £1000 for the red and white plane-shaped casket in 2002. Erimar’s name was painted on one side and
BY RECORD REPORTER on the other were the words “gone to the wide blue yonder”.
Erimar died on Sunday after battling colon cancer.
The coronavirus lockdown meant only a few family members were able to attend her funeral yesterday.
She decided to arrange her own farewell when her son-in-law Keith, who was in the RAF, died suddenly.
Erimar vowed to make sure the family would not have to struggle to arrange and pay for her funeral. She bought a plot at Foveran Cemetery, Aberdeenshire, and a headstone in the shape of a pig, giving a nod to the fact she was brought up on a farm.
“She had wanted a big event for her funeral. When all this is over, we can buy some wine, put on mum’s music and properly celebrate her life.”
Helen had returned to Aberdeenshire from England to be with her mother in her later years and said they had been the “best of friends”.
She added: “Mum was brought up by her grandparents in Foveran and had family from Banff. She had a difficult life but it made her stronger. She was a gutsy person but really down to earth. I’ll miss her terribly.”