Nellie was the daughter of Edward McKinnon and Nellie May Wood and was my paternal aunt. In looks she was very much an amalgam of her mother and father. She was a handsome and popular girl. The attached photo shows that.
Her story is a tragic one. She married a Doug Duncombe and had three children. Her husband was not a nice man. He abused his wife as a matter of course. When my aunt became sick he accompanied her to the doctor’s and told the doctor that she was malingering in order to escape housework. She had an ulcer and gradually became sicker and sicker, with her husband mistreating her all the while. No-one listened to her complaints of feeling ill, as Doug had forestalled her by telling everyone she was a hypochondriac and was malingering etc. Eventually the ulcer burst, and she died of a perforated ulcer resulting in peritonitis in 1960, aged in her early 30s.
My father never forgave Doug, and we never saw those cousins again. All I know is that the eldest, Sharon, became a doctor.
My parents have often told me that I resemble this aunt very much n both looks and temperament. From her photos – yes – I resemble her. I cannot remember her at all, although I am told I had quiet a lot of contact with her before she died.
Her story is a tragic one. She married a Doug Duncombe and had three children. Her husband was not a nice man. He abused his wife as a matter of course. When my aunt became sick he accompanied her to the doctor’s and told the doctor that she was malingering in order to escape housework. She had an ulcer and gradually became sicker and sicker, with her husband mistreating her all the while. No-one listened to her complaints of feeling ill, as Doug had forestalled her by telling everyone she was a hypochondriac and was malingering etc. Eventually the ulcer burst, and she died of a perforated ulcer resulting in peritonitis in 1960, aged in her early 30s.
My father never forgave Doug, and we never saw those cousins again. All I know is that the eldest, Sharon, became a doctor.
My parents have often told me that I resemble this aunt very much n both looks and temperament. From her photos – yes – I resemble her. I cannot remember her at all, although I am told I had quiet a lot of contact with her before she died.
The first photo is of Sharon Duncombe, my aunt Nellie's eldest daughter, holding my brother Robert with me on the left and my sister Mary on the right. The second photo shows my aunt Nellie in the middle, with two friends, before her marriage to Doug.
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