The great-great-grandson of Carnoustie’s founding father has died peacefully in his sleep.
David Lowson passed away in the Angus town last Thursday, aged 102. He would have celebrated his 103rd birthday on April 24.
Paying tribute to Mr Lowson, his family has described him as a “good man”.
Dibble tree
Mr Lowson’s ancestor, Tammas Lowson, a shipwright and salmon fisher, left his dibble or planting stick, in the ground in Carnoustie in 1797.
As the ‘dibble tree’ began to grow, Lowson put down his own roots and built a house that proved to be the foundations of the Angus burgh.
The dibble willow still stands and even survived a 19th Century lightning strike, with the town’s name being derived from the ‘craw’s noustie’ or crow’s nest of the birds which made it their home.
He was happy right to the end
Mr Lowson’s daughter-in-law, Sheena MacDonald-Lowson, said he died peacefully in his sleep at Carnoustie’s Braehill Lodge Care Home last Thursday.
Paying tribute on behalf of his family, including his son Allan, Sheena said: “Sadly, David went blind recently and was bed-ridden but he remained very aware and happy right to the end.
“He loved to read and was devastated that he could no longer do that. Allan would read and sing to him and he loved that.”
She added: “David was a good and positive man. He always saw the best in everybody.
“He was proud of his background and remained very committed to Carnoustie all his life.”
Background
Speaking to The Courier on his 100th birthday, during lockdown in April 2020, Mr Lowson said: “I’m very proud of my great-great-grandfather, who lived to the age of 92, which in those days was incredible. I seem to have inherited his genes.”
David began his working life as an apprentice engineer in Dundee’s Blackness foundry, but left Tayside to study at Liverpool University before becoming a probation officer and then an assistant prison governor.
He then returned to Liverpool University to lecture in criminology, before settling back in Carnoustie following his retirement.
He continued to live independently in the family home on the town’s High Street, close to the original dibble tree, until he moved to the care home last June.
Sheena said Mr Lowson didn’t want any ceremony following his death but a low-key gathering.
This will be held at Carnoustie’s Station Hotel on April 4 at noon.
The family wish to invite friends to attend to share stories and memories of Mr Lowson.
