Centenarian Bob Spalding, who golfed well into his 90s, has died.
He turned 100 in November and marked the event with a large family gathering in Forfar.
Bob’s daughter, Anne Edward, described her father as a people person who was active all his life, which contributed to his longevity.
During the war, Bob was a bomb retrieval and disposal expert who once encountered film star James Stewart while digging for unexploded American bombs at Attleborough in England.
The Hollywood actor, who rose to the rank of Major General, arrived with a fellow officer and spent time chatting to Bob.
Stewart – who later starred as George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life – explained the bombs had dropped because of faulty gear on a Liberator aircraft.
In his varied working life, Bob had a long spell running a soft fruit enterprise in Angus, was head gardener on an estate and ended his career as a farm manager.
A fiddler, Bob was a founder member of Angus Strathspey and Reel Society in 1963, an exhibitor and judge at Forfar Flower Show and a frequent contributor to The Courier.
He was born in 1921 at Aberlemno to Catherine and George.
Bob was educated at Brechin High School and left aged 15 to undertake a three-year apprenticeship in horticulture before joining the RAF in 1939.
He trained as an armourer and was posted to RAF Cotishall, then Wick where he rose to be the youngest NCO on flight ground crews.
Bob later became an expert on German mines and booby traps and towards the end of the Second World War cleared bombs from sites in Holland, and near Bremen, Germany.
After the war, he returned to the Brechin area where he met and married Elizabeth and took a job at Coventry Gauge and Tool.
However, by 1953 the pull of the land and working in horticulture proved too strong and he quit his secure job in the factory, worked locally and then took a post as a gardener with GY Mackie, Mains of Ballinshoe, between Forfar and Kirriemuir.
Starting a family
Elizabeth and Bob raised a family there: daughter Anne and sons George, Bob and Bill.
He remained at Ballinshoe from 1953 to 1986, with a four-year break as head gardener to Sir James Cayzer at Kinpurnie Castle.
Bob retired aged 65 and immersed himself in community activities, local history, politics, Scottish fiddle music and, of course, horticulture.
As well as his contributions to The Courier, Bob wrote articles for books including Unsung Exploits of RAF Bomb Disposal Experts, Further Exploits of RAF Bomb Disposal Experts, and Wartime Memories.
He enjoyed playing golf at Kirriemuir
When he was 79, Bob went on a tour of New Zealand with a group called Keltic Fiddlers and performed at concerts across the country over three weeks.
