A memorial service for the churchman who steered the North Sea oil and gas industry through its darkest times will be held in St Andrews on Thursday.
The Rev Andrew Wylie, who died at his home near Cupar last week aged 84, was chaplain to the sector from 1986 to 1991. He tended to his “flock” of about 20,000 offshore workers which saw him make frequent trips offshore.
Within months of his chaplaincy beginning a Chinook crashed in the North Sea, killing all but two of the 47 men on board. Mr Wylie also supported colleagues and relatives in the aftermath of the Piper Alpha disaster, the Ocean Odyssey explosion and the Brent Spar helicopter crash.
When he retired he said, “I have seen more men cry within the last five years than in all my days as a minister.”
Piper Alpha widow Ann Gillanders said Mr Wylie brought comfort to loved ones in a time of unimaginable distress.
She said, “Andrew Wylie led services and made arrangements at very short notice and there would have been families who were helped greatly by him, as well as others who couldn’t have been helped whatever anyone did.”
Oil and Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb said it was thanks to Mr Wylie’s foresight that the chaplaincy was still reaching out to people including families bereaved by last year’s Super Puma helicopter crash.
Mr Wylie went to Glasgow Academy and served with the navy from 1944 to 1947 before training for the ministry. In 1953 he was ordained and inducted to Whitehill Church in Stepps.
Six years later he moved to the Scots Kirk in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he wrote a history of the congregation.
He was general secretary of the Scottish Churches’ Council from 1967 until 1972, when he left to become minister of St Andrew’s and St George’s in Edinburgh’s George Street a post he held for 13 years.
Before arriving in Aberdeen he worked briefly as an industrial chaplain at Inverclyde.
The oil and gas post was set up by the Church of Scotland as a pilot scheme initially. Its support after the Chinook tragedy a few months later won over many of its sceptics.
Two years later, Mr Wylie led prayers on board the Tharos beside the Piper Alpha platform, destroyed by an explosion just hours before.
Mr Wylie spent a third of his year offshore, and was always mindful of the strain the industry placed on families.
He set up the chaplaincy benevolence fund to offer emergency financial aid to workers and relatives who had fallen on hard times.
He also pushed for a section of the Kirk of St Nicholas in Aberdeen to mark the 25th anniversary of the act of parliament which began North Sea exploration.
Mr Wylie is survived by second wife Jennifer, children Fiona, Heather, Jean and Kirsty, and eight grandchildren.
A celebration of his life will be held in All Saints’ Church at 2.15pm on July 7.