Army veteran and educationalist

Born: September 26, 1919;

Died: August 29, 2017

ALEXANDER Goodwin, who has died aged 97, was a member of the Royal Engineers who subsequently taught around the world and was an elder of St Andrew's Church in Jerusalem.

He was the youngest of four children born to an Ayrshire father and Argyllshire mother with the early associations of countryside and sea represented by Ayr and Campbelltown firmly engrained and lasting a lifetime.

Developing artistic and construction interests together with an all-enquiring nature, well-nurtured and encouraged by a sound education, led him at 17 to leave Ayr Academy to embark upon an apprenticeship with a prominent Ayr architect.

This was curtailed by the onset of the Second World War, causing Alex to volunteer for army service with the Royal Engineers in which corps he was commissioned in 1943.

Although never intentionally militarily inclined, young Goodwin, always a pragmatist, applied himself to service life in all its facets and rather surprisingly found the many demands, expectations and challenges immensely rewarding. So by 1948 he had converted his wartime commission to regular status, while a staff officer in HQ Rhine Army.

A comparatively meaningful and productive army career, all with the Royal Engineers, included spells on railway, construction and maintenance, port operation, inland water transport, intelligence collection and dissemination all with active service in Europe and the Middle East. He ended his Army career as a substantive major in 1967 with reserve service.

Always keen to improve his educational qualifications, he registered for and obtained an honours degree in economics and associated subjects from London University.

This led, on his return to civilian life in the 1960s, to a second career in education, firstly in Scottish schools, colleges and university then from 1980 to a period of civilian overseas challenges as head of three international schools in Ethiopia, Lebanon and Israel.

While full time paid employment ended in 1987 (50 years after first starting as an apprentice architect), a third life’s interest and (unpaid) career was still ongoing – the work and influence of the Church at home and overseas.

Alex (Sandy) while head of Tabeetha School in Jaffa and an elder in St Andrew's Church Jerusalem, became a founder member of the Friends of St Andrew's to support and maintain the ongoing presence of the Scots Memorial Church in Jerusalem. In 1996 he published, while a member of Ayr Presbytery, his history of St Andrew’s Church, on having been appointed its honorary historian.

He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Pamela.