When I was 12 to 17 I lived next door to Dr Motley in the Oxgangs area of Edinburgh. He was the first black American to study in the late 1920's in Scotland and then set up a GP practice in the late 1940's. I remember him as a lovely, kind and jovial man. I regularly took his wee Jack Russell a walk up the Pentlands. A vicious little devil. On returning Dr Motley would give me a handful of sweets. My Mum, a district nurse, whom he called 'Angel' occasionally helped bath his frail and elderly wife.
When I was 15 I did this drawing from a photograph of him. Also, on my wedding day we went to visit him in hospital. We turned up in full wedding gear and flowers for him. He couldn't come to the wedding so we took the wedding to him. He was very generous. He gave us £100 in an envelope before the wedding. I was so surprised. He died two months later aged 84.
I'd like to thank my Mum for setting a great example and for never saying, 'he's black but he's very nice' in the way I've often heard down the years.
1 comment:
That's a lovely story about him. We lived on Oxgangs Row number 5/7. Dr M was our Doc too. We loved him. Lots of house calls. Once I split my head open, had to be taken over to surgery for stitches. He was always so kind. We were the 3 Todd girls. Celia Janis and Carol. 1 brother Stephen. Not sure where we fit in , in your time line. We moved to Oxgangs when we I was 6 I think, so 1963 or thereabouts. We had the dentist lady, whose name I can't record, over for dinner one night. I was in Mrs Murrys class befor leaving for high school. My best friend was Helen Ray. We weren't very happy at that time as we were bulled together as a pair.Ha ho, these experiences make us who we are today. I didn't turn out to bad Helen was a lovely girl but sadly died in her 30s of cancer. I would love to know how some in my class are doing these days. I hope they are all good. Thanks for your story.
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