Leonard M P Mackie R.I.P.

My ex-wife’s father, Leonard, died on Christmas morning. It was expected as he’d been seriously ill for a week or so and his life support systems had been switched off but nevertheless, I’m sure it was a very sad time for all when his wonderful life finally ebbed away. Fiona (my ex wife), will miss him immensely as he’s been a constant in her life since she was born, latterly living with her and her husband George on their farm just outside Glasgow.

I first met Leonard, known as Gumpy to his various grandchildren, when I started dating Fiona some 40 years ago. I was welcomed into the family immediately and when we started getting serious, I was offered a spare room in their magnificent mansion, located on the south side of Glasgow. Often, after the whole household had retired for the night when I would try and sneak across the landing into Fiona’s room, Leonard would be standing by his bedroom door and all he needed to say was ‘Tommy, and where do you think you are going?’, and I would shuffle, embarrassed back to my own room. Nothing was ever said in the morning.

Despite being a protestant and a Rangers supporter, the catholic Mackie family welcomed me with open arms and a wonderful friendship started. Leonard, Paul (his youngest son), and I all started attending football matches, one week at Rangers and the following week at Celtic. We’d have a few beers after the game and then invariably, Gumpy would take the whole family out for dinner. My only responsibility at this time was to cook an enormous 12 item breakfast for about 10 people, each Sunday as the whole extended family descended on Ossian Drive. They were great big family occasions and I loved being part of it.

When Fiona and I married, Leonard kindly provided us with a loan to buy our first house and when we moved two years later, into a larger house five doors down from ‘the Mackies’, Leonard again just asked me how much I needed. Thankfully, I had joined IBM by this time and was able to repay him quite quickly so our relationship never suffered the way many do when money is involved.

In those days, Gumpy and I were not father-in-law and son-in-law, we were mates. On a Saturday morning after he’d finished work, I would head into town to meet him in a pub called the Virginian where they played trad jazz over lunch. We’d have a meal and quite a few pints as we enjoyed the music and then we’d get on our little Honda 80cc mopeds and rather shakily race each other back to Langside. Invariably, the one who was able to hold onto the handle of a moving bus the longest, won the race, albeit at the risk of falling foul of the law...... or even just falling!  

Of course, it was Leonard’s liking for a pint of beer which led to me missing the birth of my first born son (Stephen). When he and I had rushed up to the hospital after Fiona had been admitted with a complication, all Leonard had to hear was the midwife saying that it would be ‘a little while’, for him to eagerly accept my invitation of a pint. Several pints and a great football match later, Leonard and I headed back to the hospital only to find out that it was all over – Fiona was sitting up in bed cuddling a rather light (3lbs 14 oz) Stephen before he went off to the incubator for 4 weeks.

I didn’t see Leonard for quite a few years after I left Glasgow  in 81 and then we met up at my son’s 21^st birthday party. We had a few pints, sorted things out and mended a few bridges which had become broken with my divorce from Fiona, his beloved daughter.

As the years past, Leonard became infirm and had to move in with Fiona despite him wishing to retain some degree of independence. When I saw him a few years ago he didn’t really know who I was but he still had that shine in his eye.

And so a dynasty has gone. Leonard was one of those great father figures of days past. Not a ruler of the family, but a figurehead to whom everybody looked up and respected. He was loved by everybody who met him. He will be greatly missed.