NHS administrator and footballer.
Born: August 26, 1919; Died: November 7, 2014.
John Milne Dow, who has died aged 95, was a NHS administrator, Queen's Park footballer, bowler and Burnsian.
He was born in Glasgow and moved at an early age with his parents Peter and Agnes Dow to Dumbarton, where he grew up with his four sisters. He attended Knoxland Primary School and Dumbarton Academy and was later was employed by Dumbarton Town Council in the Public Assistance Department.
During the Second World War, he served as a pilot with 179 Squadron Coastal Command, which took him to North America, training in Detroit, Florida and Prince Edward Island, amongst others, and in the UK from Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides.
In 1948 he joined the newly established NHS, which was to be the focus of his working career and beyond. Starting as an accountant to the executive council for Dunbartonshire, he became clerk and finance officer to the executive council in 1953.
Studying at evening classes, he gained a diploma in public administration from Glasgow University in 1950. He also served as the first chairman of Dumbarton Burgh children's panel from 1970 to 1974.
Following a major re-organisation of the NHS, his office moved to Paisley and until his retirement ten years later he occupied the post of administrator, primary care for Argyll and Clyde Health Board.
In the Queen's New Year's Honours list of 1985, he was appointed MBE for service to the NHS.
Mr Dow's link to the NHS continued after his retirement. For 15 years from 1986 to 2001, he was the chairman of the Argyll and Clyde Branch of the NHS Retirement Fellowship. At the same time, from 1990 to 1999, he was chairman of the Federation of Scottish Branches of the Fellowship, becoming the first president in 1999.
Mr Dow maintained close links with the Retirement Fellowship until his final weeks.
He was treasurer of Dumbarton High and Riverside churches for 23 years as well as an elder and secretary of Dumbarton Rotary Club in 1960 and its president in 1966.
A member of Dumbarton Burns Club since 1969, he served as its president in 1978. His passion for the poetry of Burns was lifelong and his many renderings of Tam o'Shanter were unforgettable.
He took up bowling in his thirties and served as president of Dumbarton Bowling Club and won a whole range of trophies.
He was secretary of Dunbartonshire Bowling Association (1970-72) and its president (1990). In 2004, he was appointed honorary president of Dumbarton Bowling Club.
Before taking up bowling, Mr Dow was a footballer, even making it as far as playing for Queen's Park in Glasgow. A minute's silence was observed in his honour before the kick-off of a recent game on Dumbarton Common.
He was married to Pat for almost 65 years and they had three children, John, Liz and Pam, who survive him. The depth of the relationship between Mr Dow and his wife was demonstrated when she entered Langcraigs Residential Home.
Mr Dow dedicated the greater part of each day to being with her there in her final year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article