Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

Family

Auntie Violet⁹³ was the closest to my mother amongst her sisters, while Uncle Gavin may have been the only friend my father has ever had. They had that kind of family relationship that is both based in blood and practical considerations.

Their closeness definitely benefitted us children, too. Every Christmas, we received Christmas presents from Auntie Violet and Uncle Gavin. These were sometimes even better than the gifts we received from ‘Santa Claus’ (our parents). They used to send us the ‘Oor Wullie’ or ‘The Broons’⁹⁴ comic annuals.

Without any concrete information, I think my parents were influential in their marriage. My father seemed to have a good relationship to Gavin Gibson, although my mother remained skeptical. I remember reading a letter that mentioned that my parents had given a loan to Gavin Gibson. It was meant for establishing his car repair business in Glasgow. However, that letter wasn’t included amongst the files I collected, so I can’t be more specific.

Friendship

Regardless, I believe that that letter depicts the relationship between my parents and Violet and Gavin; it was indeed a ‘family relationship’ but also based on practical and financial considerations. It seems like my mother was always ‘looking out’ for her younger sister, and my father supported this relationship and the idea of helping them both out.

As far as I can remember, Auntie Violet worked as a telephone operator throughout her life. This also helped to cement the relationship between the two sisters, as Auntie Violet could call my mother ‘free’ on the phone. And my father also reaped advantages from the relationship, as Uncle Gavin, who was a car mechanic, could help him with his ‘car problems’. Moreover, outside of his work relationships, Uncle Gavin was perhaps the only ‘friend’ my father had.  

Health

They got married on 10 August 1956 when we were already living at 26 Hob Hey Lane. However, one of their most memorable visits to us happened around a year before that, when we were still living at 3 York Avenue.

At that time, Auntie Violet had been sick with a stomach problem which has certainly changed her. You see, Auntie Violet was a ‘looker’ with ‘dark’ looks, a pretty face, and a diminutive physique. But during this time, her stomach sickness made her even smaller and thinner.

I remember my mother measured the thickness (or perhaps thinness) of her wrist against mine. As a kid who didn’t know better then, I remember not worrying so much about my ‘sick’ auntie. At that time, I saw it more as some kind of competition! Imagine my being about 6 or 7 years old, and discovering that my wrist was bigger than that of a full grown woman.

Eventually, I realized everyone felt sorry for her. Although no one said it out loud, they surely thought her prospects were not good. But the plot twist of this story is that as of 2021, Auntie Violet is still one of the last of her ‘generation’ in our family. She is in her late eighties now, still alive and well, and has survived even the pandemic. They even had two children: Alan and Gavin (who is the namesake of both Uncle and my brother Gavin).

You go, Aunt Violet!

⁹³ Violet was born in 1932 at 12 Vulcan Street, Glasgow. Her given name on her marriage certificate (1956) is Violet Brown MacGillivray (29 Scotia Street) – the ‘Brown’ middle name is not included on her birth certificate. Perhaps she acquired the middle name from the lodger Abram (Abbie) Brown – exactly why is unclear. The ‘lodger’ Abbie Brown was also the ‘best man’ at my mother’s wedding ceremony.

⁹⁴  The Broons (English: The Browns) is a comic strip in Scots published in the weekly Scottish newspaper The Sunday Post. It features the Brown family, who live in a tenement flat at 10 Glebe Street.