The former owner of a gift shop regarded as an institution in Cupar has died.
John Hendry founded Hendry’s Giftware which traded for almost 40 years.
He passed away suddenly at the age of 82, on March 18.
Mr Hendry, an accomplished runner, also helped form Fife Athletic Club, of which he was patron, and coached hundreds of youngsters during the 1970s and 1980s.
Brought up on a farm near Elgin, Mr Hendry, who was known as Jock, attended Mosstowie School then Elgin Academy, where he was head boy and excelled in sports.
While still at school he played for Elgin City Football Club and at the age of 16 was offered a contract with Inverness Thistle.
Around that time he met Margaret, who he married in 1956.
After leaving school he enlisted with the Scots Guards and was posted to Dusseldorf as part of the 4th Guards Brigade.
Both in the army and outside he continued to compete in sporting events, winning multiple titles in the British Army of the Rhine championship.
On leaving the army he returned to Elgin but in 1955 moved to Ayr to work as a trainee with Scottish Agricultural Industries, selling feedstuffs and fertiliser.
Four months after he and Margaret married, Mr Hendry was recalled to the army during the Suez crisis.
In September, he moved with SAI to its north-east Fife area and he and Margaret lived briefly in Guardbridge, during which time their first of their three sons was born, before flitting to Cupar.
Making a major career change, Mr Hendry became the manager of a gift shop before opening Hendry’s Giftware with Margaret in 1967.
They had premises in the Crossgate at first, before moving to the Bonnygate and, for a couple of years, a second branch in Forfar.
In 1979 Mr Hendry ran the first of many marathons.
He and Margaret, who died last year, found a passion for hill walking, completing the Munros twice.
During a visit to New Zealand in 2008 the couple climbed their highest mountain, reaching the Crater Lake on Mount Ruapehu, at 8,766ft.
Mr Hendry also served as chairman of Cupar Round Table and president of the town’s Rotary club and played a major role in reviving Cupar Highland Games.
He leaves behind sons Alan, Douglas and Gary and his grandchildren.
