Former Pupils’ Section years of marriage but is survived by his three children. His older brother Francis William Alexander (1935-42) died in 2016. William Anderson (1939-51) died peacefully in hospital in Aberdeen on 1st August 2021 aged 88. Bill’s father had been a tea planter in Assam, India who returned to Aberdeen in 1929 where he was born in 1932 living in Bayview Road. His parents separated and Bill started his education in Ealing. When war broke out in 1939 his father wanted Bill to return to Aberdeen and he enrolled at the Grammar. On his father’s death in 1947 he was brought up by the family housekeeper. From school he attended Aberdeen Technical College studying engineering before moving to Glasgow where he obtained an apprenticeship at Fairfield shipyard to learn mechanical engineering. He then joined the Blue Funnel Line and went to sea as a ship’s engineer. He sailed all over the world including the Suez Canal at the time of the crisis with Egypt. During six years at sea he rose to become a chief engineer. In the early ‘60s, with the convenience and frozen foods market beginning to develop, Bill approached a Unilever subsidiary which was operating in Torry to develop manufacturing products. In 1965 he struck out on his own and opened Wilmar Engineering in small premises near the Aberdeen beach. He was doing mechanical jobbing work, repairs and machine stripping. After a short time the oil industry came to the north-east and Wilmar played a major part in servicing the new industry. The firm also developed new products, including a caravan tow-bar stabiliser which was widely adopted. Wilmar relocated to East Tullos and was a significant employer in that area. As well as running his business, Bill became involved in representing the engineering sector both locally and nationally. Following the 1988 oil price collapse Wilmar closed, but Bill continued to undertake occasional engineering projects and devoted his energies to the promotion of engineering and providing mentoring for apprentices. In this connection he was for many years chairman of the Engineering Industries Association in Scotland and served as chairman of the Aberdeen Industries Training Board. He played a major role in forging links between academia and the industry. Bill was an enthusiastic fly-fisherman, fishing beats on the Spey as well as on the Dee and Don. He was for several years chairman of Banchory-Devenick Community council seeing it as his duty to support his local fellow-residents. Bill is survived by his son Iain. Robert Joss Bain (1929-41) died peacefully in Hallow, Worcester on 25 April 2021 aged 98. In later life he had good recall of his schooldays and in an interview he placed on record stories of some of the masters teaching in the Upper School in his last couple of years there. His lifelong love of rugby was first nurtured at School and he was a long-term forward for the FP 1st XV. In later life he recalled playing with such greats as Donny Innes. He was a member of the all- conquering 1947/48 XV and in 1979 attended their first reunion. In 1949 Bob went into business as a partner in Gray & Bain, building contractors in Aberdeen but when this did not work out satisfactorily he sold the business. He was awarded the National Certificate in Building at the School of Architecture of the former Robert Gordon’s Technical College and in 1979 became the local representative of the Construction Industry Training Board.
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