David Gordon of Freuchie, who gave a lifetime’s service to the community, including Scouting, the church, and as a village hall trustee and justice of the peace, has died aged 90.
He had a lifelong involvement with 15th Fife (Freuchie) Scout Group and also had a close association with Freuchie Church from the 1950s onwards.
David was born in the village and spent his entire working career of 46 years at Tullis Russell papermakers at Markinch.
He was the son of Peter Gordon, an agricultural sales representative, and his wife Margaret Fife, a primary school teacher. He grew up with one sister, Margaret, who now lives in North Carolina.
David was educated in Freuchie, where he learnt to play the violin and also went on to play for Freuchie Cricket Club in his youth.
After leaving school, he began work as an engineer and draughtsman at Tullis Russell and his time there was broken by two years’ National Service with the RAF in Germany in the late 1950s.
Marriage and family
In 1958 he married Ella Bogie a clerkess in the office of linen manufacturer Walter Lumsden and Son, at Freuchie Parish Church.
The couple went on to have two sons, Peter, in 1969 and David in 1974. Both boys were born at Craigtoun Maternity Home, St Andrews.
As a young man he was enthused in his faith by Rev Forbes Watt, minister at Freuchie at a time when membership of the village church was 450.
He was later ordained as an elder and went on to serve as session clerk for 36 years.
Throughout his working life, David travelled by car to work while Ella had only a five-minute walk to work at the linen factory office.
His free time was spent immersed in activities in the village. David served as a trustee of Lumsden Hall from 1969 until 2019, 26 of these years as chairman.
He held a number of appointments in Scouting over his 61-year involvement, from Wolf Cub to District Commissioner (Cupar) and Assistant Area Commissioner (Fife) although his main focus was always on Freuchie Scout Group.
In 2001 he was awarded the Silver Wolf from the Chief Scout, the highest award in Scouting. He also served as justice of the peace for north-east Fife for almost 32 years, with 22 years as a bench-serving justice.
David also had a huge number of outside interests from caravanning to DIY to collecting first day covers and coins. He also enjoyed Scottish music and following politics and rugby.
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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