Susan’s tribute

Mum & dad pass away within days of each other

A DUNDEE woman has paid tribute to her parents who died within days of each other over the festive period.

Retired teacher Kenneth Smith died suddenly at his home in the city’s Killin Avenue aged 72, while his wife Hilary — from whom he was separated — passed away at the age of 70 in Harlow, near London, on Christmas Day.

The couple met at Hilary’s mother’s cafe in Dunkeld in 1967.

Today, their daughter Susan Parker, who also lives in Harlow, spoke to the Tele about her “straightforward” dad and her mother, whom she described as a “quiet soul” who excelled in dressmaking.

Dundee born-and-bred Kenneth trained as a cabinetmaker before graduating with a teaching degree from Dundee University i n the mid-1970s.

Susan, 46, said: “Mum lived down south and after dad died, she died on Christmas Day — it was tough.

“Dad was always doing something, whether it was building furniture or fixing windows.

“I’ve been down here 26 years and there are a few bits and pieces of furniture that he helped build in the house. He would come down now and again, a couple of times a year.

“He’d been retired a little while — he retired when he was about 62. He was trained as a cabinetmaker and after that, he was a tech teacher. It was always the same sort of thing all his career.”

As a teacher at Menzieshill High School and later Harris Academy, he was renowned for his frank teaching style and once stepped up to oversee the department.

However, his heart lay in teaching rather than being a “politician”.

Susan said: “He was pretty straightforward as a teacher. If you wanted to learn he would teach you and if you didn’t, he didn’t care if you didn’t turn up. He didn’t suffer mucking around — if you weren’t there to learn he didn’t give you his time.”

Despite this, Susan remembers the blackboard at Menzieshill being scrawled with messages reading “Good luck Mr Smith” when her “quite popular” dad took up a new job at Harris Academy.

She added: “I was in fourth year when he came to Harris. I had to teach him the ropes, giving him wrong directions to classes and things like that.”

Outside of school, Kenneth was a regular face in his community, joining the Boys’ Brigade and playing volleyball in his younger days.

He also enjoyed ten-pin bowling, regularly playing at the alley in Leuchars with friends, and once managed the Menzieshill basketball team, accompanying them to tournaments and on a trip to Malta.

He retired from teaching around 10 years ago and despite the onset of Parkinson’s continued to see family and friends.

Susan said she had a happy upbringing and while mum Hilary stopped working after having children, she would make dresses for special family occasions, including weddings. However, she had battled

grandKenneth with daughter Madalyn. Susan holds a photo of her together with her dad in England. She paid tribute to both her parents after they died