So much more than a Navy war hero
To his family he was their everyday hero, a great provider and a jovial rascal.
He was also a sought- after forestry consultant who adored trees.
Y e t N a v a l Commander John Lorimer was defined by a few short years of his long life. You can r e a d o f his daring w a r t i m e e x p l o i t s below. His family are preparing for the funeral at Kirkmichael Parish Church next Friday, December 20, at noon. And his son Pat said: “We hope everyone can be colourfully d re s s e d , n o black ties. This is a celebration of dad’s life, not mourning him. He was 97 and my wife and I were holding his hand when he died.”
It is expected there will be a large Royal Navy presence at the funeral. John is being cremated beforehand in a family- only service.
He had been recuperating from a hip operation at the Biggart Hospital in Prestwick when his condition suddenly took a turn for the worse. He was moved to Ayr Hospital where he died hours later on December 1.
John had been living happily in the cottage next to his son in Kirkmichael, having moved from Barr about 15 years ago.
His wife Judith Hughes- Onslow died eight years ago. She was a Barr girl from the Alton Albany Estate and they’d met while on wartime operational duty – he in the Royal Navy and she a Wren.
They married after the war in 1945 and their wedding picture made Tatler.
Such was his mettle, he continued to work as a forestry consultant well into his eighties.
Earlier he was a director with Adam Wilson timber merchants in Troon and brought up the family while living in a rather grand council house in the town – the now demolished Fullarton House. For Pat and his sister Bridget, it was a magical place to stay, and he was surrounded by plenty of specimen trees for John to enjoy.
The family enjoyed living in the countryside and also rented homes on the Caprington Estate and Pierhill near Annbank before John bought an old Free Church in Barr. It was owned by Pat’s uncle Simon Fergusson, a village minister, and it become Pat’s first architectural project as he converted it into a house for his parents.
Pat said: “It is very true that just four years defined the whole of his life. But there was a lot more to him than that, and they were not the most important. The most important things to him were getting married and having children, having a career and living in Ayrshire.
“He was incredibly modest and really kind.”
He spent his career importing and exporting timber, buying standing forests and despatching portable sawmills to cut the timber on sites all over the west of Scotland.
John was born in Kelso and grew up in Thetford, Norfolk – where his dad was a GP – and then Loch Sween, Argyll.
He leaves his son Pat – a deputy lord- lietenant of Ayrshire – his daughter Bridget, three grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren.