GWEN MAYORA beloved wife, daughter, mother and teacher who had given 10 years’ service to Dunblane Primary School, Gwen Mayor died trying to protect pupils when an armed gunman opened fire in the school gymnasium on 13 March, 1996
The 45-year-old was the only schoolteacher to die in the three-minute massacre which also claimed the lives of 16 children.
According to emergency personnel, who arrived just 15 minutes later, it appeared “as if she had been trying to shield youngsters from the gunfire.”
Mrs Mayor grew up in Great Harwood, a small town in North East Lancashire, and married Rodney Mayor at the town’s Central Methodist Church.
The couple went on to have two daughters together, Esther and Deborah, before moving to Scotland during the early 1970s.
On that fateful day of 13 March, 1996, Mrs Mayor was teaching a class of five and six year-old children in the school gymnasium when gunman Thomas Hamilton, wearing a woolly hat and earmuffs, entered and opened fire.
In less than three minutes, he killed or wounded all but one person. His first targets had been the adults and his first victim was Mrs Mayor. Shot six times, she died almost instantly.
Shortly after the massacre, Mrs Mayor was named Scotswoman of the Year for her outstanding bravery and tremendous courage.
A year later, in 1997, she received the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Birthday Honours.
Today, her memory lives on in a beautiful species of Hybrid Tea rose named in her honour. Peach and apricot, it is said to signify everything about the fun-loving mum-of-two. Each Gwen Mayor rose sold raises money for the Gwen Mayor Trust, set up to fund artistic, cultural, musical and sporting projects in Scottish primary schools.
“The words which accompany the rose say everything,” said mother-in-law Frances Mayor. “Gwen’s life was rich and she enriched the lives of all who knew her. Her final act was a positive, caring one for the young children who were placed in her charge.”
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