My Big Cousin Stuart

Stuart was ‘my big cousin’:  his mum and my dad were brother and sister.  As children we spent every second Saturday together because both our families spent the day at my paternal grandparents’ home.   He was just one year older than me and his little brother Scott is one year older than my brother busboy, so it usually worked out that Stuart and I played together and Scott and busboy played together.  I remember that Stuart and I used to play ‘chicken’ on the busy road at Kirkcaldy prom, daring each other to wait just a minute more before running across the very busy street, dodging the cars!  The beach was also our playground and we’d often paddle in the sea with our trousers rolled up to our knees, usually going home to gran and grandad’s soaked, knowing we’d get told off!  Happy memories!
 
At his funeral on Friday, the church was packed both downstairs and upstairs, with  lots of people standing too.  The words that I kept hearing all day were ‘a true gentleman, hard-working, a family man first and foremost, generous, fair both on the football pitch and off.  There were lots of tears and many of them were from grown men.
 
Stuart was happily married to Irene for 28 years and they had three grown children: Mark, Amy and Sam.  His second grandchild was born just two weeks before Stuart died.  He was a keen goalie for many years and then trained young footballers right up till he passed away.  He also loved rugby and he and Irene travelled all over the world supporting Scotland - Stuart always proudly wearing his kilt. He was a great cook.  In fact, the last time Bb and I spent time together with Stuart and his family at their home he cooked us a full traditional Christmas dinner. It was only October, but he didn’t care cos ‘his wee cousin’ had said she missed Christmas dinners! 
 
When his daughter Amy, 24, spoke at the funeral she said that her dad had always told them, ‘You have eyes on the front of your head for a reason: always look forward, don’t look back’.  Despite the sad occasion, there were lots of hugs, shared memories, laughs and, yes, tears.  It was lovely to spend time with that side of my family and when I left them after the whole day together, we promised to keep more in touch with each other regularly.  There might even be a visit to Barcelona - watch this space! 
 
RIP Stuart, from your wee cousin.