A WOMAN believed to have been the oldest person in Scotland has died at the age of 108.
Elizabeth Cockburn spent most of her life in a remote croft without electricity or running water and lived to see six generations of her family grow up.
The great-great-great grandmother, who moved into sheltered accommodation a few months before
her 101st birthday, passed away on Sunday.
While living at the croft at New Blyth, near Turriff, Aberdeenshire, she had to walk half a mile to the nearest well for water, a mile to the nearest garage to charge up her house battery for power and make a mile-and-a-half round trip to the main road to catch the bus to Turriff for her shopping.
She also grew her own vegetables and looked after cattle on 56 acres of land.
After moving into the Cumrye sheltered housing complex in Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire, she had to learn how to work appliances such as a telephone, hair dryer, fridge and washing machine.
She also had the luxury of an inside bathroom for the first time.
Yesterday her grandson, Norman Cockburn, 53, said: "As every year passed, we kept wondering how long she had left. But she would just keep on going.
"She kept in great health like her mother and with very little complaint. She carried on her hobbies and was still knitting away three weeks ago."
He said his grandmother had lived in her croft for 78 years, and it was a shock when she finally agreed to stay in sheltered housing. He added: "Until then, she had never used a TV before but took to it straight away.
"She was also very taken with having a bathroom inside because she had used an outdoor toilet all her life."
Mrs Cockburn met her late husband, George, when she worked at the croft as the family housekeeper. They married and brought up four daughters before Mr Blyth died in 1950.
Mr Cockburn attributed his grandmother's long, active life to working at the croft carrying out tasks city dwellers take for granted.
Mr Cockburn added: "She was a very strict disciplinarian and knew how to keep the house in order.
"She was a great one for her radio and always listened to her favourite programmes. She used to have an old fashioned radio powered by a battery.
"The battery used to take three days to charge and we were very much restricted to how much we could listen because of the cost of the batteries. As soon as one programme was finished, the radio had to be turned off.
"When electricity came in, it was going to cost her £500 to get it installed. She couldn't afford this so just carried on living the way she was."
She is survived by two of her daughters, seven grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren and five great great grandchildren.
• Figures released last year by the Registrar General for Scotland show that the number of centenarians is increasing, the majority of them women.
In 2006, there were 680 centenarians, of whom no fewer than 600 were women.
