Almost a thousand people paid their last respects to Kenny MacDonald, the much-loved and respected former Free Church minister who died last Sunday.
He became known to the wider public when his 19-year-old daughter Alison went missing in Kashmir during a backpacking holiday in 1980.
The Skye native was remembered by family, friends and colleagues not just as a talented minister but for his great passion for life.
Before the service, Rev Iain MacAskill paid tribute to his friend who preceded him as minister at Rosskeen Church, where the service was held.
“When he came here it was a small congregation but when he left it was ten times what it was. This is a solemn day, a sad day but we rejoice for Kenny’s life and that he is now with his Lord.”
He added: “We remember the family but this full church is testimony to how much he was revered and esteemed in this community over a ministry that lasted 11 years.”
The Reflections were delivered by Rev MacDonald’s grandson James Forsyth, also a minister, who recalled his grandfather’s multi-faceted life as a footballer, customs man, and finally minister.
Rev MacDonald had once been on Tottenham Hotspur’s books and apparently had been a formidable proponent of the physical side of the game.
But as a grandfather he was “the very definition of fun” who would give his grandchildren “ice cream for breakfast” when their mothers were not watching.
Conducting the funeral Rev Fachie Renwick said that while still a schoolboy on Skye, Kenneth Macdonald would go “behind the teacher’s back to move the clock forward an hour”.
Before joining the Free Church, Rev MacDonald had seen active service with the army in Egypt where he was doing National Service.
He saved the life of a sergeant major who had his leg blown off by a mine by entering a minefield and carry him to safety.
After the army he joined Customs and Excise before going to theological college in Edinburgh. It was during his time there that the news came through that his daughter had vanished.
He searched “tirelessly, year after year” eventually making over 20 trips to Pakistan and Kashmir to try and trace Alison.
Rev Renwick concluded that Kenneth MacDonald should not be remembered just as a father whose daughter is missing but as a “unique character and a gifted minister.”
Rev Macdonald is survived by his widow Reta. Besides Alison, the couple have three other children – Mairi, Sam and Derek.