James, or Jim as he was affectionately known as to his family, friends and colleague, was born in Ayrshire in 1946. His family moved to Arbroath in 1957 where he attended Arbroath High School, going on to study Art at Duncan of Jordanstone College from 1965 – 1969.
He worked for an advertising agency in Glasgow but decided that life as a commercial artist wasn’t for him and so made up his mind to go in for the noble profession of teaching.
After obtaining his Teaching Diploma in Dundee, Jim taught at Arbroath Academy until 1973, then moved to the Isle of Lewis to teach at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway for two years. He then relocated again, to Castle Douglas, teaching at Castle Douglas High School from 1975 until 1984. Jim finally returned to Angus where he began teaching at The High School of Dundee and remained with the School for 19 years.
During his time at the School, Jim spent many years as graphics and layout production man for The Review as well as School advertising. He took the rapid advances in computer graphics and new technology in his stride, adding these new skills to his repertoire, thus becoming the “resident expert” in computer graphics. This led to him becoming involved with the production of School and Former Pupil publications, for example Beyond the Pillars.
Doing a bit of extra-curricular work of his own behalf, Jim put his talents to good use outside the School, and on a grand scale. He produced the large banners for EuroCentral at Mosside, the largest industrial estate in Scotland at the time, as well as those that were on display on Riverside Drive in Dundee.
Jim decided to take advantage of the McCrone settlement and took early retirement in October 2003. He continued to work for the School as a freelance expert, producing graphics for School publications. When he retired, he had plans to develop a small business working with digital photography.
In November 2019, aged 73, Jim sadly passed away. He is survived by his dear wife, Frances, his sister Irene and his nephew and nieces Clive, Adrian, Andrew, Ian and Anna and he will be dearly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.
