My Beloved Grandfather

A Memory of Greenock.

My grandfather was a Highland gentleman who lived in Greenock for a short time, orginally coming from Luing, a small slate island. He came to this town during the war but going back periodically to the island. He brought my grandmother, their daughter and son who was my father Angus. My grandfather was a quiet studious man who worked here in Scott Lithgow's shipyard and took care of his family. Then we came along his grandchildren, we loved him, he had a lovely lilting voice and a very kind nature. I loved hearing all his tales about the island and his childhood, but you always knew his heart yearned for this homeland. In February he took ill and was in the old Larkfield Hospital for a few weeks then died 14th February,1967. I was by then eleven years old, it was a sad day. I remember my dad crying, I had never seen him cry before. My gran upset. I remember that day so clearly because we had lost someone so precious to us all, life with never be the same again. He was taken back to the island to rest in peace that tranquil little place he called home.
Maureen McKechnie.

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