Stonemason Tom O’Rourke, whose legacy can be seen all over Dundee, has died aged 94.
He worked on the building of the DC Thomson tower in Meadowside in the early 1960s, helped craft the facade of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and worked on the original entrance to Camperdown zoo.
In his leisure time, Tom was a skilled artist who also contributed poems to The Courier.
He was born in March 1929 at a Black Watch barracks in Chakrata, India, where his father was a soldier.
Homecoming
His first four years of life were spent in India before the family returned to Dundee to work in the jute industry and Tom began his education at St Mary’s Forebank School.
A bright pupil with a talent for art, he was awarded a bursary to attend Lawside Academy but opted to go to St John’s High School instead so he was not separated from his friends.
In his youth he was a skilled footballer and turned out for East Craigie among other sides.
Apprenticeship
Tom left school at 14 to work as a milk boy and his duties involved looking after the cart horse. He then began his apprenticeship as a stonemason with JB Hay. His early working life was interrupted by two years’ National Service with The Cameron Highlanders in Libya and Egypt.
In 1952, he met his future wife, Winnie, from Northern Ireland. They married in 1953 and son and daughter, Mike and Tricia, were born within a year of each other.
The family were set to emigrate to South Africa in 1964 when son, Jim, arrived so they stayed put.
Tom worked for a variety of private companies on projects around Dundee before working for the local authority in the city.
He retired in 1994 but unfortunately, Winnie, his wife of 41 years, died just nine weeks later.
Aberdeen
Tom spent the next 15 years as a single man before meeting and marrying Christina, from Bucksburn, Aberdeen.
They set up home in the city and Tom became stepfather to Jim, Stuart and Sandra.
The couple travelled widely included to the pyramids of Giza and a trip on the Trans Canada Railway.
When Christine died last year, Tom moved to Newport-on-Tay to be closer to his family.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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