Reverend Alastair Ferguson Lamont, minister; born August 10, 1930, died July 22, 191998.

THE Reverend Alastair F Lamont has died in Aberdeen, aged 67. Born in Stirling, he was educated at Dollar Academy, and studied French, maths, and philosophy at Edinburgh University before following his vocation into the ministry with a further degree of Bachelor of Divinity, graduating finally in 1955.

After winning a scholarship for a further year of study from the World Council of Churches, he went to Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

At Princeton he met his future wife, Alice Yeater, a former Methodist missionary to Argentina, while she was also studying theology. They were married on September 29, 1956, in Alice's home town of Goshen, Indiana.

They finally set sail from New York on their honeymoon voyage back to Great Britain on the Queen Mary.

After returning to Scotland he was appointed in late 1956 as assistant minister at Dunfermline Abbey in Fife.

In 1958, encouraged by his wife's command of Spanish and her enthusiasm for South America, Alastair accepted his first ministerial charge at Union Church, Valparaiso, Chile.

At that time it was the only Presbyterian Church on that stretch of the Pacific coast of South America and his parish stretched from Arica in northern Chile to Punta Arenas on Cape Horn (2700 miles).

His congregation in Vina del Mar, where the Union Church was located, was international, consisting of expatriate Scots and other English-speaking nationals as well as foreign communities who had English as a second language, and the church was very much a centre for the international community.

Consequently Alastair was called upon to officiate or preach during royal visits by Prince Philip, Princess Alexandra, the Duchess of Kent, and Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Alastair and Alice returned to Scotland in 1966, with three children and another on the way.

After six months, Alastair accepted a charge at South Parish Church, Girvan, Ayrshire, where he was the minister for 13 years.

He was greatly struck by the decline in Scotland's industry and in the way the nation's culture and traditions were no longer esteemed.

On arriving in Girvan in the wake of the Hamilton by-election, which elected Winnie Ewing to Parliament, he joined forces with the local Girvan doctor, Neil Brown, to found the South Ayrshire constituency branch of the SNP. In the years to follow he gave many campaign speeches for the cause of Scottish Home Rule.

He served for a term as Moderator of Ayr Presbytery during the 1970s, a position he was also to occupy with distinction at Aberdeen Presbytery between 1992 and 1993.

He was appointed co-chairman of the Christian/Jewish Dialogue set up by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in subsequent years he was to make frequent official trips to Israel as convener of the Israel Committee, a position he held for eight years.

Christian-Jewish relations became a very real part of his ministerial career, and he wrote a book entitled Anti-Semitism and Christian Responsibility, co-authored by his friend from student days, the clergyman and academic the Rev David Torrance, now living in North Berwick.

In January of 119980, he accepted his last charge at Denburn Parish Church in Aberdeen.

This was a city centre church with a large congregation formed from the union of three city centre churches - Bon Accord, St Pauls, and Gilcomston St Colms.

As Aberdeen is a university city, Alastair was to have many students under his charge from the Divinity Faculty, who were candidates for the ministry. Some of his students are now serving clergy within Aberdeen Presbytery, others are now scattered across the world preaching the gospel of Christ.

He had a serious heart attack in 1990, from which he recovered well and was able to return to his ministry.

In 1996, he celebrated 40 years in the ministry at the same time as 40 years of marriage. He planned to continue until 70 in the year 2000. He is survived by his wife, Alice, and his four children.