Tributes paid to 'proper gent' (92)

A SON has paid tribute to his 92-year-old father who died following a two-car collision in Inverness.

Bill MacKenzie (92), of Firthview Drive, Scorguie, died when his car was involved in a collision with a van in Carse Road on October 8.

Son Donald MacKenzie (66) described his father, a former church officer at St Columba High Church, as "an outgoing man who was well known in the city" having lived and worked in Inverness throughout his life.

"My dad always very dapper and always wore a jacket and tie," he said. "He was always a very healthy and independent person.

"When he was 90 he needed a walking stick because he had a bad back. He hated that thing and said it was for old people.

"I had to remind him that he needed it because he was an old man.

"He never thought of himself as being an old person."

He added: "He didn’t like the way the grass was cut at the local cemetery and did it himself until he could no longer do it due to his age."

Father to William (67) and Chris (58) as well as Donald, Mr MacKenzie also had 10 grandchildren along with a total of fourteen great-grandchildren.

"He was always devoted to my mother Lillian who passed away in 2006," Mr MacKenzie added.

"He was a paratrooper in 1944 being too young to join at the start of the war. After the war he sold grass seeds and fertiliser to farmers in Inverness and the Black Isle and he embraced modern technology and often talked to relatives on Facebook or on Facetime."

Of the accident he said: "I don’t know for certain what my dad was doing out that day. I think he must have been out to go grocery shopping."

Neighbour Jimmy Grant also described Mr MacKenzie senior as a "first class neighbour".

He said: "He was a proper gent. He always had a smile and always said hello. He was well liked in the area."