Obituary: Jean Quin Flett, Edinburgh woman who taught Wrens to drive Jeeps during Second World War

In 1942, 19-year-old Jean Scott joined the army. Her father drove her from Edinburgh to her initial training at Newbattle Abbey, south-west of Dalkeith. It was her first time away from home. With tear filled eyes, she waved goodbye to her father, Gibby Scott. After the war he owned Scott’s Garage in Piershill and Jean was its administrative hub. But by 1942 war had raged for over two years, stripping a generation of their teenage years.

Jean was schooled at James Clark’s where she was dux. In those days teenagers left school to be plunged into war. The entire nation was on a wartime footing; a generation marked by that experience. Most families had at least one member in mortal danger as the nation fought for its life against a powerful aggressor. Those not in the military forces served in other ways; in food production, transportation, munitions or national security; their foe, the Nazi war machine, the most advanced and powerful the world had ever seen.

When the war ended Jean had three stripes. She taught Wrens how to drive Jeeps and trucks across Britain. In all weathers, sometimes without a cab or windscreen, these girls drove half completed or finished trucks from one factory or army location to another, often hundreds of miles apart.

Mum recalled her trips on what is now the M6/M74 motorway, laden with US troops. They were impressed with her driving over the steep climb at Shap – there were only two lanes then and, for Americans, it was on the wrong side of the road.

Here was a tough and resilient generation that learned skills. They knew how to respect one another and how to work as a team. Their one objective – save the nation.

Nine years ago, I wrote an obituary about my father, John W Flett, a merchant navy captain who met my mother in Edinburgh, where he studied at the Nautical College.

He survived four convoy trips to Russia and experienced wartime episodes about which his generation said little. Churchill saw the strategic need to arm the eastern ally, Russia. What a success that proved to be. As my father survived the Nazi gauntlet in those icy waters, Britain also, amazingly, survived. Mum and Dad’s generation saw it firsthand. We owe so very much to that wartime generation.

Since Dad’s passing, I saw the loneliness of the survivors in their old age. Mum was the last of her old friends in her Newington street and the oldest in our family. She was oldest in the congregation that met in the church building where she and my Dad were married in spring 1947. Mum’s mind was sharp to the end. She passed away with the dignity and the steadfastness with which she lived. But massive changes in social values and the excesses of recent decades must have been bewildering to this solid and humble generation. They thrived despite hardship and ration books. They developed humility and courage while we nurture celebrity. They looked after their neighbours while we claim our rights. They got on with life. As a result, they had a mental and physical strength often absent today.

Mum used her iPad to keep in touch with her large family, until she entered Edinburgh’s Western General late last year. The care she received was superb despite the excessive workload for frontline staff. Since giving birth to my sister, Angela, Mum had only briefly visited a hospital once prior to 2019.

I tell my grandchildren that us “oldies” still think of ourselves as young – although we look old on the outside, we are young on the inside. Thus, the picture of Mum is as she was in her prime.

Those war years were followed by the joys of peace and marriage, useful work and raising a family.

“O perfect love, all human thought transcending…” Mum’s wedding hymn was sung at her cremation service. Mum and Dad were a team for 64 years. Now they are together again.

They were Christians, respecters of others, caring people. They fought alongside comrades from the Commonwealth and elsewhere, and Scotland became home to Poles, Italians, Jews and many others from the nations. They fought a war together and they shared the peace together. They were much more than tolerant, they were good neighbours. They were foundational to our nation. They were tough but caring, had strong faith but were respectful to others.

I learned a lot from Jean Quin Flett; a brilliant mother, administrator of the family business, soldier, faithful, solid in character… with a sense of humour and a deep joy.

Jean Flett is survived by her children Douglas and Angela, six grandchildren and ten great grandchildren.

Douglas GJ Flett