Flags are flying at half mast for a churchman and former school rector who died on Christmas Day.
News of the Reverend Sandy Glass’s death was broken to parishioners at Castle Street Church of Scotland in Dingwall, where he had preached himself and served as an elder.
He retired after 20 years as Dingwall Academy rector in 1997.
Offering her condolences to his family, current rector Karen Cormack yesterday (MON) lowered the school flag and Saltire at the academy as a mark of respect.
“We met on a number of occasions and I was very aware of the level of respect and affection staff and former pupils held for him,” she said in a message to his three daughters.
“Dingwall Academy may have moved buildings, but Alexander Glass will forever remain an important part of the history and life of the school.”
Dunbar-born Rev Glass, 83, studied at Edinburgh, Heidelberg and Aix-en-Provence universities mastering in languages, which he put to good use during a period of national service in the 1950s as a German script writer for British forces based in Cologne.
His future wife Edith enrolled in one of his German courses. They wed in 1959.
Rev Glass taught languages at Montrose Academy, Oban High School, Nairn Academy, Perth Academy and Milne’s High School at Fochabers before being appointed rector at Dingwall.
He was an auxilliary kirk minister from 1993 and served as locum chaplain at Raigmore Hospital.
He also served as interim moderator and locum at Contin and Lochluichart Church, and then intermittently in the same role at Avoch, Fortrose and Rosemarkie. He was a kirk elder for more than 50 years and session clerk at Dingwall.
He also found time for another great passion. As a leading light in Highland amateur drama, he regularly directed school plays and was Highland secretary of the Scottish Community Drama Association.
A long serving member of children’s panels, Rev Glass received an OBE in 1993 for services to child welfare.
He served for three years from 1989 as chairman of the Children’s Panel Chairmen’s Group, at a time when the Orkney crisis and the Fife inquiry involving the removal of children from their homes were issues of the day.
Fellow church elder and local councillor Margaret Paterson described him as “a tremendous man, great fun and an excellent rector.”
Rev Glass, who died at the Wyvis House Care Home in Dingwall, is survived by his wife, daughters Eleanor, Muriel and Louise, and grandchildren Sam, Lexi and Milly. Arrangements are currently being made for his funeral.