Shock death of well-known Lochaber family man

THE SUDDEN death of a 42-year-old member of a wellknown Lochaber family has left the community in shock.

Ian Allan Forsyth died at home from ‘ a ticking timebomb’ in his chest after a happy day out with wife Caroline and children, Emily, 15, and Craig, 13.

Ian Allan unexpectedly fell victim to a thoracic aortic aneurysm, the bursting of the main heart artery.

Medical literature states there are seldom any symptoms or warnings leading up to the swelling and sudden bursting of the vital blood vessel. It is a condition often described as a person unknowingly carrying ‘ a ticking timebomb ‘ in their body. For two generations the Forsyth family owned the upmarket Letterfindlay Lodge Hotel overlooking Loch Lochy, near Spean Bridge.

And it was at the hotel – then run by Ian Allan’s dad and mum, Ian and Valerie Forsyth – that romance first blossomed for the tragic husband and father.

Caroline and her parents travelled up from England each summer to holiday at the Inverness-shire hotel.

The young widow said yesterday: ‘We first met when we were four years old. We were always friends but when we were 18 we started going out together.’

Talking of the fateful day last week, Caroline, a learning co-ordinator and nurse, said: ‘We all went for a run in the car over to the Black Isle from our home in Inverness.

‘It was a nice, pleasant afternoon out.

‘When we got home we did stuff with the children’s pet rabbits in the back garden. Ian Allan seemed fine.

‘Then we went inside and he sat down in his chair in the living-room and quite simply died suddenly there.

‘It was so sudden and shocking.’

Caroline dialled 999 and an ambulance rushed Ian Allan to nearby Raigmore Hospital but staff there were unable to revive him.

For 12 years, Ian Allan worked for Café Centro in Inverness’s Eastgate Centre and latterly was in charge of stock and food preparation for Cento and the firm’s other businesses in the shopping centre.

His boss, Barry Larsen, said: ‘He was just a nice big lad, really into his family. It is a great shame for them.’

Ian Allan also leaves a sister, Mary MacColl, in Roy Bridge, and younger brother, Ross, in Easter Ross.

A funeral service took place yesterday (Wednesday) at Chisholms Undertakers in Inverness and the burial takes place at 12.30pm today (Thursday) at Blarour Cemetery, Spean Bridge.