Meeting of the Parliament 02 April 2025
The book of Wisdom in the Old Testament says:
“Length of days is not what makes age honourable, nor number of years the true measure of life;
understanding, this is grey hairs, untarnished life, this is ripe old age.”
Even if you are not a person of faith, I think that that poetry speaks to all of us.
Our colleague has gone too soon but, today and in the days to come, we have an opportunity to measure her life, her love, her contribution in this place and the contributions that she made to so many people. That includes her constituents, and many of the stories of how she helped them we will never know, but we do know of the countless people she would have helped with her kindness, compassion and dedication.
We can measure her life and love for Keith, for Lewis, for Jack and for all her family and friends. The book of Wisdom would say of those bonds:
“Coming to perfection in so short a while, she achieved long life”.
I did not know Christina for as long as so many others in the Parliament, but I found a photograph last week of the Edinburgh pride march in 2022, which was led by Alex Cole-Hamilton, Maggie Chapman, me and Christina. She brought her two nieces that day, and she was so proud to be showing them the importance of allyship, standing with others and standing up for equality in Scotland, so much of which she helped to build.
We had a great chat that day on what was a long march around Edinburgh. We spoke about everything from our shared admiration for James Connolly to who could whistle the loudest when passing people who were objecting to the pride march. Of course, as colleagues opposite would expect, she tried very hard to convince me of the merits of Scottish independence. We agreed to disagree on that one.
However, that is how I will remember Christina McKelvie: on that sunny day in Edinburgh, full of joy, love and energy, on a march for the equalities and human rights of people she stood with for so long. That was the measure of her life. [Applause.]
14:40