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No one made me laugh with quite the
same exuberance as my brother George, but the source
of that laughter ceased on February 1, 2011 when two
weeks short of his seventy-third birthday, his maker
called him home. Laughter seems an unlikely
ingredient for a boy born as the middle child in a
family of eleven, but laughter was a key component
of the man he would become. His ability to make me
and others laugh was attributable to his comedic
timing.
As a large family growing up in
Maybole in the late forties and fifties, George
often remarked of our childhood: “We could disagree
with four or five siblings and still have plenty of
playmates at the end of the day.” Sometimes as the
laughter subsided and punishment was doled out for
childhood misdeeds, George often took the brunt of
it, even though the blame lay elsewhere. |
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My earliest memories of George are as a big
brother and mentor, he was always there for me, but we were
as different as two human beings could be; he was calm and
collected, while I was angry and volatile. He was confident
and gregarious, I was shy and introverted. As we grew older
our lives remained intact, even though we lived three
thousand miles apart. Despite our differences we shared many
of the same pleasures: golf, opera, poetry and literature.
When George married the love of his life,
Meryl Colquhoun, I had the privilege of being the best man
at their wedding, which took place in the U.S.A. Following a
two year stint in the United States Army, George and Meryl
returned to Scotland, where he attended Jordan Hill College.
They eventually settled into their own home in the border
country, where they raised a family.
George’s greatest legacy is undoubtedly his
family and he is survived by his wife Meryl and their four
Children: Geryl, Darren, Jaren and Verne. Grandchildren:
Kelly, Morgan, Ruby, Robbie, Buster and Manor. Great
grandchild: Dexter. Besides being a great family man he was
also a man of many talents; he was an excellent golfer, a
teacher and councilor, the pastor of an Edinburgh church and
a man of strong convictions with great religious fervor. In
his spare time he dabbled in culinary fare and the
hospitality of the Davidson house remains legendary.
Somewhere along the way he found time to teach himself to
play the banjo. He was a gifted writer and poet and
contributed several short stories to the Maybole website
shortly before he became ill. He was also published in
The
Plain Truth Magazine. His article entitled: “What, me
prejudiced?” This article gives a true sense of who he
really was. It was published in the April-May 2001 edition.
When he was younger he could be a tough task
master if the occasion demanded it, and like most of us, he
mellowed with the years but he still demanded from himself
the very best and he expected the same from those around
him.
The family wishes to say a very special
thanks to friends and relatives who made the trip to Peebles
for his funeral service. To those of us who knew and loved
him, his presence will be forever missed.
W.D. April 23, 2011 |