A well-known and highly respected former Angus hotelier has died at the age of 91.
Morris Yeaman of Forfar ran the Royal and County Hotels in the town as well as the Bruce Hotel and Seaforth Hotels in Carnoustie and Arbroath respectively for many years.
He played an active role in community life, was a long serving member of the Rotary Club of Forfar and was a great entertainer.
He joined Forfar Rotary in 1962, was President of the club in 1978-79 and in 2000 was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship – the highest award in Rotary named after the organisation’s founder.
It was one of his proudest achievements.
He also produced a number of pantomimes in Forfar in the 1970s and ran The Golden Ladder talent show.
He also ran a successful ‘Loons and Laughter’ cabaret show in Forfar in 1949 and 1950.
Morrison (Morris) Yeaman was born in Dundee and educated at Rockwell Primary and Harris Academy.
He joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 16 and served in the latter part of the Second World War, working on the Atlantic convoy tankers which played a vital part in transporting vital supplies of food, equipment and raw materials from North America.
He remained in the Merchant Navy until 1948 before returning to Forfar to work with his father, James, who had bought the Royal Hotel after a spell running the Forfar Arms.
In 1950, Morris married his wife Elizabeth and the couple emigrated to Australia shortly after.
They settled first in Maleny in Queensland, where their son Craig was born, and then moved to Brisbane where their daughter, Ailsa-Kim, was born.
Their children were named after the Ailsa Craig, the small island off the west coast of Scotland, as it was the first piece of Scotland Morris saw when he sailed back from the convoys.
The family returned to Forfar in 1958 on the death of Morris’s father and it was then he bought the Royal Hotel.
He later bought the County and then the Bruce and Seaforth hotels before retiring in 1980.
His love of the sea continued when he purchased a yacht and sailed to Spain with his wife, enjoying many sailing trips on the Mediterranean and latterly the west coast of Scotland.
Morris retired from public life after the death of his wife in December 2011.
He continued to live at the family home in the Glamis Road but lived latterly at the Abbey House Care Home outside Kirriemuir, where he died on Thursday.
He is survived by Craig and Ailsa-Kim, seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
His funeral service is at St Margaret’s Church, Forfar on Wednesday November 6 at 11am.
