Ex-pat left life savings to two Scots libraries

Letitia McKell with two of her nieces, Jan and Christina

An ex-pat left thousands of pounds to two Scottish libraries because they held happy memories of time spent with her husband, it has emerged.

Letitia McKell bequeathed more than £350,000 to libraries in Motherwell and East Kilbride when she died in 2001 - 56 years after emigrating to the US.

The cash funded part of a refurbishment of Motherwell Library and North Lanarkshire Council launched an appeal to trace relatives of the generous benefactor.

Three of her nieces came forward and on Thursday, they shared memories of their aunt at an official reopening of the library.

And BBC Scotland News spoke to an American friend of Mrs McKell - known as Leti - who explained why she remembered the libraries in her will.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said the Scot had been devoted to her late husband, Frank,

"She used to say that she wanted to donate to the library because that’s where her and Frank would sit on a bench for hours and read books," her friend said.

"That was her love, Frank was her love.

"She was always so excited to be able to go back [to Scotland]."

On the refurbishment of the library, she said: "Leti would be jumping for joy just to see this."

Leti's nieces, Winnie, Jan and Marlene, have fond memories of their aunt

Leti's gift to Motherwell library has funded a new creative craft area, known as the Letitia McKell Makerspace.

At it's grand opening, her nieces, Winnie McCall, Jan O'Neill and Marlene Frame agreed that their aunt was a very kind woman.

She emigrated to Canada in 1945 with her husband, before settling in Everett in the US state of Washington.

The couple had married in Glasgow in 1939 when she was 19 and he 27. They had been neighbours.

"She was a wonderful woman. Kind, thrifty," Jan, of Wishaw, said.

She believes they went to America looking for a better life, but they were "down to earth people".

Leti worked for a meat packing company, while Frank was employed at a papermill.

Leti McKell moved to Canada, before moving to Everett, Washington with her husband Frank

Jan remembers writing letters to her aunt who would reply telling her to "work hard, do your homework".

"She used to send packages, some of them were really funny," she added.

In the 1970s, the parcels were filled with items the youngsters could not get in Scotland - toys, "googly eyes" and "funny green feet".

Winnie, who lives in Livingstone, has fond memories of Leti's visits to Scotland, when she always wore the latest fashions.

"I was still quite a young child, but she always brought exciting things," she said.

She said her aunt would bring home "exotic" things such as a duvet and a continental quilt.

"She never forgot where she came from. I think that was very important to her," she said.

Winnie said she first visited the library with Leti's brother, Benny.

"We didn’t have much materially but that was another escape, another way we could enrich our lives, so it’s wonderful this is all carried on in her name," she added.

"It will live on hopefully for generations and people will learn and grow as she did."

Frank worked in Scott's Papermill and Leti worked at a meat packing company

Marlene and her mother spent three months in the US with Leti and Frank after Frank suffered a heart attack.

"I was only 11 at the time," she said. "It was wonderful, I’ve got a lot of good memories about that.

"She was driving at the time, taking me here and there, going to visit friends and relatives. Just a different life from us entirely then."

Marlene, of East Kilbride, believes they had a very comfortable life, but both of them worked hard.

"She was very kind and fun to be with. She was witty," she added.

The Letitia McKell MakerSpace was part of a wider refurbishment of Motherwell Library, which cost the council £1.6m.

The MakerSpace area has sewing machines, 3D printers and other activities and also features the Letitia McKell plaque