Monty Morse, a former sergeant with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers who became inspector of BT’s vehicle workshops for the whole of Scotland, has died at the age of 79.
Born into a military family, he settled in Dundee after his army service and latterly lived in Leuchars.
Monty spent some of his childhood in India where his father was sergeant with the Royal Artillery, and the family returned to the UK in 1943 when the Japanese threatened to invade.
As a youngster living in London, he remembered V1 rockets hitting the capital. He was sent to the Duke of York’s military boys’ school in Dover at the age of 10 and excelled at music but also showed prowess in boxing.
He followed his father into the forces and trained as a mechanic with the REME. He served in Cyprus and Korea before being posted to Dundee where he worked on vehicles of the officers’ training corps in Small’s Wynd.
He met his wife-to-be Charlotte Lonie in the former JM Ballroom in 1958 and they were married within six months. Army life took them to Germany, Libya and Yorkshire, and their three sons and daughter were born.
Monty left to join BT as a mechanic in Basingstoke and the Morses planned to spend their retirement in the Hampshire town but when son Andrew developed multiple sclerosis they returned with him to Dundee. Monty and Charlotte later moved to Leuchars.
Son Ian said: “My dad was a quiet man and his family was his life.”