Christina Allan Miller (née McCulloch) (1945-2025)
My mother died peacefully in her sleep at Glasgow Royal Infirmary after a long battle with illness just after midnight on Sunday, 16th March. She was 79 years old. My sisters and I and the rest of the family are all deeply mourning her passing.
Christina Allan McCulloch was born in Glasgow on 3rd October 1945 and was the eldest of two children of Aaron McCulloch (1917-1990) and Jessie McCulloch née Purdie (1920-2002). Coincidentally, she shared the same birthday as my father, 3rd October, though born in different years.
She was baptised on 21st November 1945 at St Thomas' Church of Scotland on Gallowgate and remained a church member her entire life.
Her father, Aaron ('Ernie') was a Battery Sergeant Major in the Royal Canadian Artillery, stationed in the UK during World War 2 where he met my grandmother. They were married in 1944. As well as my mother, they also had a second daughter, Jean ('Jeanette') born in 1947. The family moved to Canada after the war, but unfortunately, the marriage did not endure and my grandmother and mother returned to Scotland before Jean was born.
As an adult, she later met her father and her half-siblings, Ian and Susan, in Canada and continued to be in contact with them from then on.
My mum grew up in the house she had been born in at 227 Abercromby Street and she attended St James's Primary School in Calton and John Street Secondary School in Bridgeton. She left school at sixteen and worked in several office jobs, going from office junior to senior positions in the accounts and wages departments of several local firms in Bridgeton including the large Welma Bakery.
The family were always churchgoers and my mother became a member of Greenhead and Barrowfield Church in London Road when she was about 16 years old. After it was closed down, she became a member of Calton New Parish Church near the Barras (later named St Luke's).
She later joined the Orange Lodge and it was there she met my father, James Miller (1929-2011). They were married on 23rd October 1971 and the marriage lasted until his death in 2011, less than a year short of what would have been their Ruby wedding anniversary.
After she got married, my mother gave up work and became a mother when I was born in 1972. My parents then went on to have three more children, all daughters in 1974, 1977 and 1981.
My mother was always shortsighted but in 1978 she suffered a detached retina which resulted in the loss of sight in one eye. Although this must have been a lot to come to terms with for a young woman in her early 30s, she never showed it and went on to have another child in 1981 and thereafter went back to work as a Home Help from 1985 until she retired.
The family moved to a bigger house in 1978, where she lived until her death (she only lived at two addresses from birth to death) and soon after we all started going to Bridgeton St Francis-in-the-East Parish Church in Queen Mary Street. It was there she became heavily involved in the life of the congregation.
An important event for my mother was the Billy Graham rallies held in Glasgow in 1991. Although going as a member of the choir, she came to Christ personally at one of those meetings and always felt that her faith had deepened and strengthened after that.
She was ordained as an elder of the church in 1992 and served in many ways in the church, including the church singing group, session and board meetings, fundraising, social events, and a spell as the church's cleaner. She also attended the midweek prayer and Bible study meeting faithfully for many years and two services on Sundays most weeks.
Although with four kids to look after she must not have had a lot of free time when we were growing up, she had many hobbies and interests.
She loved dogs and always had a dog or two dogs as pets all her life. They became her constant companions in later life.
She loved watching films, especially thrillers, westerns and war films. Before her eyesight started to fail, she loved reading books and was a big fan of the thriller writer Jeffery Deaver. Later she would listen to audiobooks with my sister.
She was a lifelong Rangers supporter and used to attend regularly at Ibrox during the 1960s before she got married. She was still listening to games right up to when she had to go into hospital for the last time. She also loved other sports including Rugby and has been to Murrayfield several times to watch Scotland. On TV and the radio, she also liked to watch or listen to boxing matches, especially heavyweight world title fights.
She also used to knit and she was good at drawing.
She was a good singer and loved listening to all kinds of music, from the Beatles to Lady Gaga. She also enjoyed listening to classical music at times. Puccini was her favourite composer.
Every week she would write letters to her sister in Canada, and later she regularly corresponded with her father and half-sister in Canada also.
She loved East Lothian and we spent many holidays through at Port Seton. She also liked the bustle of seaside holidays at Blackpool and went to Spain on holiday several times. She later enjoyed trips to Canada a few times and New York. Later she enjoyed many holidays on the Isle of Mull or up in Nethybridge or Boat of Garten, as well as the Peak District at Chatsworth. One of her last big holidays was a cruise to Norway just last year after her first stroke.
Aside from all that, she was a fantastic mum and was very proud of her children and anything we accomplished. She doted on her grandchildren.
Above all she was my friend—I could talk to her about anything and everything—and I will miss her wisdom, her wit and her love. The whole family will always miss her, though we are grateful her health struggles are over.
My wife once asked her what she would like to be remembered for. She said: "That I was a formidable woman."
Rest easy mammy. You were that and so much more.
