Mrs Katie Sproat
April 23rd 1906 - July 27th 1998

The island community was greatly saddened at the death of Mrs Katie Sproat, who passed away at her home, Lochview, in Arinagour on July 27th 1998.

The youngest of a family of six, Katie was born in Lochview in 1906 and her childhood was spent in and around the village of Arinagour. Her parents, Alexander and Catherine MacLean, had a croft at Monadh Ban and she attended Arinagour Board School, which sat on the hill above the village.

Katie wrote about her schooldays in the very first issue of the Coll Magazine: "We had very happy times at school. Lessons began each morning with the Lord's Prayer and then a chapter from the Bible was read and each one had to read a verse."

Katie and her brother had to clean the school, which included sweeping and dusting the seats and tables and scrubbing the school floor once a month. With two coal fires in the building it was an arduous task and they were only paid £1 a month. It was during this time, at the time of the First World War, that she joined her brothers in the delivery of telegrams to the Coastguard for Mr Sturgeon at the Post Office.

Whilst her older siblings went off into the world to pursue mainland lives, Katie remained at home in Lochview with her parents, where she was perfectly content. She met her husband, William Sproat in 1935 and they were married in Oban in 1939. Lochview remained the family home and their son, Archie, was born and brought up there.

William Sproat was a Mull man, a plumber. He had come to Coll to work on the Estate and he was master plumber at the Castle for a time. Later they opened a shop in a building that had originally been a byre for the croft at Monadh Ban and which they had moved to Arinagour to serve as a store for tools and pipes.

It was an ironmongery at first, selling pots and pans, candles, filly lamps, gas mantles, wicks, paraffin etc. Later, due to popular demand, they began to sell sweets and tobacco and finally, groceries as well. It was still a time of rationing and in a previous Coll magazine Katie reflected on how complicated it all was, counting all the ration coupons every month and sending them off to the Ministry of Food.

"Ours was a happy shop" she commented, "My husband always had a cheery word for everyone and people could come to buy at any time as we lived just across the road from it". In the early sixties they bought a van to deliver groceries throughout the island and when their son Archie, who had driven the van, left the island in 1963, Katie learned to drive and passed her test in 1966 aged 60. Katie and William kept the shop until 1970, when they retired after twenty five years in the business.

The family home at Lochview became a focal point for all the extended MacLean family, most of whom had become scattered across the mainland. To the many nieces and nephews, Katie was always welcoming and indeed, everyone was welcome at Lochview where they would always be offered some of Katie's excellent baking in the true tradition of island hospitality.

Katie excelled at the baking, the knitting and the sewing and indeed, too, the gardening. All the traditional domestic skills which contribute to a happy home. At one time she had a beautiful garden at the front of Lochview. Where perhaps she was more adventurous than most was in her love of fishing, regularly accompanying her brother Archie out to sea on fishing expeditions.

It was possible too, in those days, to catch a bucketful of cuddies off the Old Pier and Katie often used to do this. There was one occasion, a rainy day in the early fifties when this nearly cost her her life. She had been fishing for cuddies as usual, clad in a big raincoat and wellington boots, when she slipped on the steps of the Old Pier and fell into the water. She couldn't swim. Fortunately, a sharp-eyed neighbour just happened to be looking out of the window and had seen her fall. She was quickly rescued.

Katie will be remembered as a hardworking person of quiet dignity who loved her life. Like her brother, Archie, she was also a devout person and was a regular member of the congregation at the Free Church until ill health made it difficult for her to leave the house. She is sadly missed by her son Archie, her daughter-in-law Marilyn, her grandson's Billy, Graeme and Colin, her nephews and nieces and her many friends.

ACM