It is with great sadness that I learned yesterday of the death of Kathleen Smith, Honorary President of Dundee Liberal Democrat Association. Kathleen was 89 and passed away just a few weeks after the death of her husband of 63 years, Jack.
Kathleen and Jack were both leading members of Dundee West Liberal Association and thereafter Dundee Liberal Democrats over many years. They helped keep the Liberal cause going in the difficult days of the 1950s and 1960s and, as a young election agent in 1984, I remember Kathleen's kindness in giving a generous donation towards the election of Dundee's first Liberal District Councillor.
Kathleen was a parliamentary candidate in Perth and East Perthshire at the February 1974 general election and also at the Tayside Regional Council election the same year in the then Central/Riverside Division, which covers much of my current West End Ward area. In the Regional Council election she ran a spirited campaign and laid the foundations of future electoral success. Both Kathleen and Jack were very supportive of my election campaigns in the West End, for which I will always be extremely grateful.
In addition to her highly successful role as Rector's Assessor at the University of Dundee during the rectorships of Sir Clement Freud and Lord Mackie of Benshie (1974-83), Kathleen was a long-standing elder of Meadowside St Paul's Church.
My thoughts are with Kathleen's family at this sad time.