Alison was born on 30th November 1957 and brought up in Invergowrie. She was the elder daughter of Enid and the late Sinclair Gauldie (Class of 1936) and sister of Robin (class of 1973) and Becca (class of 1986).
After leaving school, Alison completed a BA at the University of Edinburgh and then spent a year as an au pair in Spain. Following that, she lived and worked in the third sector in London, where she met her husband, Miles.
Miles and Alison married in 1995 and after the birth of their daughter, Holly, they moved to Johnshaven in Kincardineshire.
Alison continued working professionally in the voluntary sector in several roles, latterly with ACVO, which helps to develop and support the third sector in Aberdeen. Having returned to Scotland, Alison renewed friendships with many of her schoolfriends.
Her love of Spain was still extraordinarily strong, and she took part in two Caminos in recent years, despite still being a staunch Atheist. She remained close friends with the Spanish schoolgirl she met on exchange from DHS, April Bofill.
In 2016 Alison was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer of the appendix, goblet cell carcinoma. The cancer had metastasised, and she had to undergo major emergency surgery and chemotherapy. However, Alison recovered sufficiently to undertake her second Camino and to continue working. As part of her recovery, she took up painting, a subject she had enjoyed whilst at school.
In September 2020 she began to feel unwell again and in January 2021 was told the cancer had returned. Daughter Holly had just announced her engagement and she and her partner chose to bring the date of the wedding forward to June 2021. Before Alison died, she was able to help plan the event Holly was, without doubt, the most important person in her life and it meant a great deal to her, giving her something positive to focus on.
On April 14th 2021, Alison died peacefully in Aberdeen’s Roxburghe House. She is survived by her
husband, daughter, mother, and siblings.
