Obituaries: Campbell Watson, solicitor well known in Kinross community

Campbell Watson loved the Great Outdoors

Campbell Colin Watson died peacefully at home in November after a short illness. Born in 1947 in London, Campbell was sent to board at Drumtochty Castle Preparatory School and later Fettes College in Edinburgh. The experience perhaps instilled in him the independence, self-assurance and consummate ease in social situations which defined him as a person.

Campbell completed his education at St Andrews University, graduating in law in 1972. After a spell in the Caribbean working in investment banking, where he met his wife of 37 years, Pauline, he returned to Scotland to work as a solicitor and became a partner at Andersons LLP in Kinross (formerly JL Anderson & Co). He was instrumental in building Andersons into the thriving business it is today, and continued working there until his illness.

An active, popular member of the community, Campbell was involved for many years in the Rotary Club, community council and Kinross Centre, where he was chairman for 16 years and a regular volunteer.

He was also a well-known figure at Kinross Golf Club: a member for over 30 years, he assisted the club with legal matters whenever he could. Recently he was involved in bringing parkrun to Kinross, something which brought him great satisfaction. As well as volunteering regularly, he often ran it himself, a smile on his face, with his children and grandchildren in tow.

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A man of wide and varied interests, Campbell was blessed with family and a legion of close friends with whom to share those interests – skiing, golfing, diving and making music, to mention just a few.

He was particularly proud of his status as a Munro completist since 1998, and he deeply valued the time he spent in the bothies and hills with family and friends in the pursuit of that goal. He continued to enjoy spending time in the outdoors right up until the end.

It would be difficult to name a sport Campbell didn’t have an interest in, but it was football he loved the most. A Dundee fan in his youth and a long-suffering follower of the Scottish national team, he was old enough to remember good times for both; Dundee winning the league in 1962 and bunking off school in 1963 to see Scotland beat England 2-1 at Wembley.

His greatest love, however, was Liverpool FC and, as a season ticket holder he regularly travelled to Anfield to see them play. He was proud to have witnessed first-hand “The Miracle of Istanbul” in 2005 and even a life-threatening hernia wasn’t enough to prevent him attending Liverpool’s most recent Champions League victory in Madrid in 2019.

A deep interest in people and place meant that Campbell travelled widely during his life. From his travels around South America after university to his life in the Caribbean; from his diving expeditions in the Pacific to following Liverpool, Scotland and the British Lions abroad, he managed to see much of the world. If pressed, however, he would name Assynt as his favourite place on earth.

And on a cold, wet winter’s-day, Campbell was most happy at home in Kinross in front of a roaring fire and the football.

He is survived by Pauline, his brother George, his children Ian, Stuart and Verity, and his grandchildren Barney and Lucille Watson and Sam, Isla and Alex Thwaites.

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