Papa

We said goodbye to Papa today.

His name was Billy and he was a wonderful brother, husband, father and papa.

He was born in 1948 and grew up in Grangemouth with his brother Donald. As children they spent a lot of time visiting family in Uist which would later become Papa’s home.

His two passions were woodworking and sports. He built things his whole life and in his younger years was a fast and formidable centre. He captained Falkirk Rugby during the 1970s and later became a decent long distance runner.

Billy married Sadie in 1972 and they had two boys, Colin and Alasdair (me!). Papa had four grandchildren - Colin’s boys, Evan and Harris and Alasdair’s girls, Rowan and Muireann. Billy worked as a draughtsman and latterly a mechanical engineer, designing flow systems for oil platforms.

In semi-retirement he and Sadie ran a self catering business and worked the family croft in Uist. Sadie passed away in 2020 and we joined him here in Uist for the last few years.

He excelled in his role as Papa and always enjoyed being with his grandchildren. He was delighted seeing Evan and Harris play rugby, both talented players like himself. Papa also enjoyed showing the girls how to fix things around the croft and would tell them all the stories. And although he would deny it, he even enjoyed watching the odd episode of Bluey and Peppa Pig.

Papa was a selfless, caring and hard working man who was admired by all who knew him. We will miss him very much.

The girls made these cards for him when we visited Papa in Raigmore a couple of weeks ago. Muireann’s drawing shows Papa with cherries and ice cream falling from the sky. And Rowan’s shows Papa on our Fordson Dexta tractor, his final restoration project.