Roy Lauchlan,
born 8th June 1927, died 14th November 2009
With the death of Roy Lauchlan at the age of 82, the Ayrshire town of Kilwinning has lost one of its most distinguished and energetic citizens. He was born, and lived all his life in the town, a dapper figure who was always recognizably by the small trademark hat perched on his head. As a result of his involvement in almost every aspect of the town’s life, when the road avoiding the town centre was built, it was named Lauchlan’s Way.
Lauchlan and his wife Jean ran a confectioner’s shop in the town and he was known to generations of schoolchildren who bought their sweeties from Uncle Roy. But the children also came across his name as the person who presided over the crowning of the Segdoun Queen at the town’s Gala Day, as a member of the school boards of Corsehill Primary and Kilwinning Academy and through the Lauchlan Medal presented to the dux of Kilwinning Academy.
The Lauchlan house in King Street was packed with documents and records connected with the town and the local Historical Society, and he was constantly contacted by people researching their family trees. He was a leading light in the Horticultural Society and the British Legion, whose members formed a guard of honour as his coffin was driven away from the town’s Abbey Church. He was heavily involved in the local branch of the Red Cross and Kilwinning’s celebration of the Millennium was spearheaded by a committee chaired by Lauchlan. He had been a member of the Kilwinning Development Corporation.
He was a past President of Kilwinning Rotary Club and had been awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship, which is the highest reward of Rotary International, and of the local Burns Club, and active in the Masons’ Mother Lodge and in the North Ayrshire Museums,
The poet Robert Service, who wrote “The Shooting of Dan McGrew” came from a Kilwinning family and spent early years in the town, and Lauchlan became president of the Robert Service Appreciation Society, organizing its dinners, attended by such as the Governor of the Yukon, the American Consul and Glasgow’s Lord Provost.
Those as heavily involved in leading organizations as Lauchlan was often leave a gap behind them. While Lauchlan will be hugely missed in Kilwinning and beyond, he had the great skill of spotting those who could take on responsibility and so ensure that future continuity was guaranteed.
Tom Meikle, who paid tribute at Roy Lauchlan’s funeral wryly pointed out that while Lauchlan touched the lives of people round the globe, it was only by divine providence that he did not touch more people, because he was an appalling driver who displayed no knowledge whatsoever of the Highway Code!
In 1995 Lauchlan was awarded the MBE. His wife Jean died earlier this year, and he is survived by his two nephews Jim and Roy.