The sudden death of Iain Duncan only a few weeks before his 80th birthday, shocked not only his family and the people of Strathkinness but his many friends around Scotland.
For 30 years, Iain, who as a youth had hopes of Olympic running glory, served as secretary of Strathkinness Community Council.
He had also served as president of Howe of Fife Rugby Club and had been a Justice of the Peace for 26 years.
Iain was born in Aberdeen on April 4, 1942, the elder son of Ethel and Andrew Duncan.
Move to Fife
In December of that year his father’s work for the Department of Agriculture took the family to East Fife where Iain would live all his life – first of all in Ceres from 1942-1951, then in Craigrothie House.
He attended Ceres Primary School and Bell Baxter High School, Cupar, and on leaving school at 16, was accepted as a cadet in the Metropolitan Police.
Athletics
While in London he ran for Torch Athletic Club and was in advanced coaching for international 100m/200m sprint events with the target of qualifying for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Sadly his Olympic dream and police career were both brought to an abrupt end with the discovery of a cancerous tumour on his shin bone.
Railway
After surgery, he returned to Craigrothie and, despite this being a time of high unemployment, he declared he would find work somewhere, signed on with the Cupar Labour Exchange and accepted the only job on offer that week, as a porter at Springfield Station.
This turned out to be an extraordinary turning point in Iain’s life since at Springfield Station there was a large siding for wagons for the nationwide distribution of the famous Scott’s Porage Oats.
Transport
Not long after he started work at the station, he was offered a job in their transport and distribution department and Iain found his vocation.
While living at Craigrothie Iain, then 15, had met 14-year-old Sheila McGown from St Andrews, at Barbarafield riding school.
They married in 1964 and settled into their first home on Sunnyside, Strathkinness, and on December 17, 1967, the Duncan twosome doubled in a day when twins Andrew and Fiona arrived.
Business
Two years earlier, Iain had been appointed transport manager for Danskin’s Transport Services, Strathkinness, which he eventually co-owned.
Iain gained further experience in this field – with United Freight Distribution and Pollock Transport, retiring in 2009.
With an ability to communicate at all levels, he was the ideal on-site contract manager, working all over the UK with, Sonae at Knowsley on Merseyside, Federal Tait at Inverurie, Baxters of Fochabers and Glenmorangie at Broxburn.
Rugby
He was a keen follower of sport and was proud to have served as president of Howe of Fife Rugby Club between 1991 and 1993.
His long association with Howe was marked by a minute’s silence before the game on Saturday, March 19.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Iain completed fundraising marathons as a member of the Radio Tay team, where he opened the station’s weekend programming and co-presented quiz shows and travel programmes.
Music
His association with Radio Tay built upon a love of music first kindled when working at Collets, a record store in New Oxford Street, London, that specialised in jazz, folk and blues.
Always a very keen cyclist this was a hobby he took up in earnest after he retired.
Every day for Iain began with a 10-mile cycle ride no matter the weather, and his enthusiasm for cycling led him, aged 67, to take up the challenge of riding a stage of the Tour de France.
Challenge
It was a notoriously tough stage of 170km with a gruelling finish on Mont Ventoux in Provence.
Iain not only completed the stage in blistering heat with the surface temperature at 50c but, on finally arriving at the last refreshment station to find that there was no water, he used his emergency funds to buy beer to distribute to cyclists.
Community
Iain was widely respected as a community stalwart in Strathkinness. In addition to serving the community council he was instrumental is setting up the Strathkinness Community Trust to promote a sense of well-being and community in the village.
The trust oversees the community garden, jubilee orchard and the village green.
Building on the success of these initiatives the trust later acquired Bishop’s Wood, one of Fife’s best examples of natural birch woodland, in 2016, and the old phone box, now Gallery 201, in 2017.
Iain worked tirelessly towards making the village a better place, always with a smile on his face and time for a chat.
Justice
He served as a Justice of the Peace for 26 years, retiring in 2012. During his last years as a magistrate he chaired the Justices Committee.
Iain is survived by his wife Sheila, his son Andrew and daughter Fiona, and grand-daughters Kirsty and Carys.
Thanksgiving
On April 8 there will be a private family service at Dundee Crematorium to be followed by a service of thanksgiving for Iain’s life at St Mark’s Church, St Mary’s Place, St Andrews, beginning at 1.30pm.
There will be a retiring collection at this service in aid of the Strathkinness Community Trust.