June 30, 2009
Edgar Fergusson 0
Edgar Fergusson, for many years a respected member of the Glasgow medical profession, as well as a devoted Scottish churchman, has died at the age of 78, writes Graham Spiers.
Edgar was well-known in west of Scotland medical circles, having begun his career as a GP in the mid-1950s. He continued his work in health administration in Glasgow before his retirement around 1995.
A man steeped in the church, in his time he served as a Sunday school teacher and a church organist, among myriad other duties. His devotion to one church in particular was outstanding. Edgar was a member of Hillhead Baptist in Glasgow’s west end for 54 years, where he served as a deacon, clerk to the deacons’ court and as church secretary.
Known for his energy, exuberance and thoroughly engaging humour before being struck down with illness in Ocotber 2008, for all his church activities Edgar was no po-faced purveyor of religion. On the contrary, his Christian faith came wrapped in a buoyant and often witty outlook on life, as his many friends and ex-colleagues would testify.
This obituarist has special reason for gratitude for Edgar’s life. When my father came to Hillhead Baptist Church to be its new minister in 1970, I was a six-year-old kid new to Glasgow who was immediately shown love and kindness by Edgar.
His concern for me would hardly relent over the next 38 years, not even when, as chief sports writer of The Herald before I left, he would gently upbraid me for an overly-bawdy sports opinion with which he disagreed. I came to regard him as a thoroughly special man.
• Full story at The Herald.
