John Alistair Mackay was born in Newlands, Bettyhill, on 21st January 1933, second of the seven children of Mr and Mrs James and Elizabeth Mackay, a family whose byname was Crow, from the dark hair and complexion of some of its members.
Despite being christened John Alistair, he was renamed almost from birth as Bobby and, as Bobby Crow, became known far and wide.
He had a great love of fishing and, like his father before him, a gillie on the River Naver, was an expert with the fly, though he was also known to practise more traditional methods in the hours of darkness.
He attended Farr Public School leaving at the age of 14 to undertake labouring work within the area before embarking on a lifetime career as a driver.
He married young and had two children, Ian and Robert, in 1956 and 1958, both born at Achina in Bettyhill.
He was then driving for Pulford Estates and Sutherland Transport, hauling fish from Kinlochbervie to the Humber and Billingsgate markets, which took him away from home during the week, but switched to bus driving in order to spend more time with his boys when his marriage broke up, working initially on the Lairg mail bus run and, for many, many years with Highland Omnibuses on the Dounreay run from Bettyhill and throughout Caithness.
In his later years with Highland, he drove Citylink buses to Edinburgh and Glasgow, which enabled him to spend the occasional night with his family there.
Always a cheerful and companionable character, Bobby was very popular with his colleagues on the buses, a fact reflected in the many visitors received in his final stay in hospital and in attendance at his funeral in Bettyhill.
Throughout his life, Bobby had a great interest in music and, like many of his relatives, was an excellent dancer. He was a regular visitor to the Caithness Accordion and Fiddle Club in Wick, enjoyed tinkering with cars and continued to practise his love of fishing for most of his life.
He enjoyed good health until the last few months and, even in his final weeks in hospital, was able to relax by watching TV to the extent that the nurses threatened to charge him for the hospital TV Licence!
Unfailingly cheerful and always ready to lend a hand to a neighbour, Bobby will be sadly missed by all who knew him including his two sons, five much loved grand-children and three great grand-children, the youngest of whom was born in the last weeks of his life and who brought many a smile to his face on her visits to hospital.
His well-attended funeral service, conducted by the Reverend Jim Morrison, was held at Bettyhill Free Church on Tuesday, 13th December and pall-bearers at Clachan Cemetery were: Ian Mackay and Robert Mackay, sons; Graham Mackay and Matthew Mackay, grandsons; Sandy Mackay, Hamish Mackay and Anson Mackay, brothers, and Hamish Macdonald, colleague and friend - Contributed.
