The Rev Catherine Anne Hepburn, for 15 years the minister of the parish of West Mearns, has died at the age of 59.
The daughter of missionaries, she spent her early years in Malawi, before coming to Scotland at the age of nine, to Kirkcudbright, where her father Hamish was minister of St Mary’s.
After studying at Edinburgh University she became minister of Gargunnock, and then Gargunnock with Kincardine-in-Menteith.
She ministered there for 18 years and then in 2000 was called to the parish of West Mearns with its churches at Fettercairn, Auchenblae and Glenbervie.
In a tribute, close friend and former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Very Rev Andrew McLellan, said: “She made her mark across the whole Church.
“But deeper and more important was the mark she made on her two parishes, and the mark they made on her.”
A member of the Kirk’s Church and Nation committee, she was also a Moderator of Kincardine and Deeside Presbytery and led many special retreats and workshops.
She died at home surrounded by family, close friends and a Marie Curie nurse. She is survived by her mother Anne, sister Margaret and Roger and her brother Kenneth and Hong-Yoke.