Norman Gray, who was a well known face in west Fife as a reporter with The Courier, has died.
A Christmas Island veteran, Mr Gray or Norrie as he was better known started his career in newspapers on the tiny Pacific atoll while serving as a sergeant in the Royal Army Educational Corps during the first series of hydrogen bomb tests.
Part of his work was to produce a daily news sheet, the Mid-Pacific News, for the thousands of soldiers, airmen, sailors and scientists involved in the three tests.
Mr Gray was born in Dundee and educated at Morgan Academy and Queen’s College.
He joined DC Thomson in 1959 at the end of his regular army engagement and was transferred to the Dunfermline office in the same week that the Forth Road Bridge was opened in 1964.
Mr Gray retired as chief reporter, in what was then the Dunfermline office of The Courier, Evening Telegraph and Sunday Post, in 2002.
A double bass player, he played with a number of Scottish country bands as well as various jazz groups and dance bands across Fife, Perthshire and Dundee.
Along with wife Sheila, he was an avid fan of music, and golf, and also enjoyed bowls, with both being long-standing members of Canmore Golf Club in Dunfermline and Headwell Bowling Club.
Mrs Gray said: “He enjoyed his retirement with his golf and his bowls and was very keen on both his clubs.”
His family also brought him great pleasure.
“Over the last few years he has taken a great deal of joy from his young grandchildren,” Mrs Gray added.