05/07/2026
Its with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of Anna Florence (Anderson) Henderson, peacefully at 12:36am this morning following a severe stroke three weeks ago.
She had much of her family around her in her last days - including us her grandbairns, and passed wi Mam and Valerie at her side.
Reunited now wi her husband John Laurence 'Donnie' Henderson, wir grandaa, her son Laurence, and her own parents and grandparents.
I spent much of the last 15 years or so (off and on) scanning their photos and listening to her stories every time I could get home. Very often I'd hear the same ones over and over again, but it was always a joy to watch her face light up in the telling of tales fae the olden days, speaking about all the folk that used to be, their antics and all sorts of episodes fae the isle's history.
For wis grandbairns, Granny and Grandaa were aye aye safe place to turn to when wir folk were just being evil and unreasonable in making wis tidy wir rooms and so on.. Dir hoose at Houll a place o comfort and a second home where dir was always a plate o food and a biscuit waiting.
Grandaa narrowly missed the birth o wir Ethan, but Granny was lucky enough to be a great-grandmother to Scott, Ethan, Sofianna, James, Alec, Joanne and John, as well as a great-great-granny to wir Scott's lass Fei, and will always be fondly remembered by them all.
It pains me to think of all the 'last times' as I often do. The last time we all had Sunday dinner at Houll together. The last time she left that house an closed the door behind her, never to return. The last time she'd greet me in m**s kitchen when I'd come home for the weekend, calling me 'Nannie's peerie boy' even wi me in my late 40s, but her last ever sunset was a beautiful one - here in Skerries where she belonged.
