For more than 30 years Iain Small poured himself into almost every aspect of community life in Peterhead.
He was a dedicated long-serving local GP, his charisma was one of the mainstays of annual pantomime performances, he looked after Peterhead FC’s players through championship seasons as club doctor and he regularly attended church.
The death of the much-loved 62-year-old father-of-four following a sudden illness has prompted an outpouring of tributes in the community.
However, for his family, he was always “just dad”.
A new start in Peterhead
Dr Small grew up and studied in Dundee before moving to Peterhead with his wife Christine and family in 1989.
It was not his first choice, the GP had applied for 22 other jobs before being offered a position in the town.
However, he quickly threw himself into community life with the baptist church and athletics club and would later say the family had always been destined to call Peterhead home.
Across the following decades he grew to become a respected and much-loved figure in the town.
At 6ft tall, he was on the end of a long-running joke “Dr Small’s not very small”.
Daughter Lorna Kennedy said: “It was like he was famous. Folk would always come up to me and say ‘Your dad’s Dr Small.’”
Despite being a Dundee United fan, he relished the role of being club doctor for Peterhead FC for 23 years, helping them to Highland League and League 2 championship titles.
Pantomime performances
It was Lorna’s desire to take to the stage with Peterhead Panto Group in 1995 that led to Dr Small’s first connection with the group.
Before long, the whole family was involved with Dr Small initially helping backstage before quickly shining in the spotlight himself.
Over the coming years he became one of the most charismatic performers in the group while throwing himself into the parts of the dame, or as the baddie.
Lorna said: “He was just that person (the dame), it was the flamboyance of it all. It gave an outlet to the over-the-top personality that we saw every day at home.
“He loved the crowd’s reaction and loved performing to the people of Peterhead. He loved getting his costume on and getting his nails done.
“It was the villain roles he really relished though. One of the last parts he had was Abanazar in Aladdin, which he’d wanted to do since he’d been involved in the panto.
“He was so happy that he had been casted in that role.”
He was most recently a popular chairman of the group, stepping down from the post in February, after previously being a stage manager, script writer, song writer and set builder among many other roles.
Community commitment through Covid
Dr Small initially retired as a GP about five years ago.
However, his commitment to his profession led to him taking a lead role during the Covid pandemic as associate medical director for primary care in Grampian.
What was initially intended to be a part-time job eventually became an almost all-consuming seven-day role during one of the toughest times the health service has been through.
He finally retired as a GP last year before stepping down as Peterhead FC club doctor just last month.
He passed away peacefully following a sudden illness yesterday.
Family’s pride in role model GP
Despite all his working supporting community life in Peterhead, his family say it was life at home that gave him the most pride.
Of all his roles, he relished being a grandfather the most to his four grandchildren Oliver, Eleanor, Hannah and Nathan with a fifth on the way.
Lorna said: “To us, he was always just dad, but on top of that we were always so unbelievably proud that he was able to be what he was for us for so many other people too.
“We had him but whether it was through church, the football, the amateur dramatic stuff or somewhere else, there were kids that didn’t have a dad or a person like him.
“He became a role model for so many others as well. We were just so proud of him for that.”
Iain Small is survived by his wife Christine, children Stewart, Lorna, Claire and Alison and four grandchildren.
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