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Rev Kenneth MacDonald

Obituary of the Rev Kenneth MacDonald, Church of Scotland minister; born January 6, 1922; died March 10, 2008.

The Reverend Kenneth MacDonald, who has died aged 86, was from a rapidly fading generation of Highland ministers who could preach eloquently in Gaelic and English.

That gift, combined with a singing voice that found full expression as a precentor, made him much in demand among traditional congregations, where such talents are in diminishing supply.

A native of Garrabost, in the Point area of Lewis, Kenneth MacDonald was known far and wide as "Kenny Ban", or fair-haired Kenny in Gaelic.

He embarked on a pre-divinity course at Aberdeen University and completed his studies at New College, Edinburgh, in 1965. A call was soon forthcoming and he was ordained and inducted to Snizort, Skye, later that year.

He was minister of that scattered parish for 13 years, having married a local girl, Mary Maclean, in 1959. They moved to Applecross, on the neighbouring mainland, in 1978, when MacDonald became the first associate minister in a parish long regarded as one of Scotland's bastions of Presbyterianism.

MacDonald remained in Applecross until 1993, having reached, and indeed slightly exceeded, the compulsory retirement age of 70 for Kirk ministers of his era.

Full obituary at The Herald.