Rosemary Matheson-Dear, a former art teacher in Dundee who went on to tutor Roxburghe House residents, has died aged 87.
She will also be remembered as one of the first to sit on Dundee’s new Children’s Panel in the 1970s.
Rosemary also served as a president of Dundee District Girls’ Brigade, was a president of Harris Academy Former Pupils’ Association, and was a Ladies Circle member.
In later years, Rosemary acted as receptionist in the dental practice of her husband, Denis Matheson-Dear.
Beginnings
She was born in May 1935 in Perth Road, Dundee, the only child of garage proprietor George McGregor and his wife Allena, a bookkeeper.
Rosemary attended Harris Academy at primary and secondary level and showed an aptitude for art, delighting her peers and staff with caricatures and cartoons.
She graduated from Dundee Art College on the same day as she announced her engagement to Denis.
Family life
After their marriage in 1958, they lived in Scott Street, Sutherland Crescent, and then from 1967, what became the family home in Blackness Road with their three children, Christopher, Jonathan and Nicolas.
After gaining a teaching qualification, Rosemary worked in a number of local primary schools including St Peter and Paul, St Columba’s and Ancrum Road before joining the staff of Harris Academy in 1972, a role she held until taking early retirement in 1985.
Thereafter, she undertook freelance graphic art commissions from the education department and continued painting, drawing and calligraphy for many years until a stroke impaired her capacity.
However, she continued to help and encourage the artistic talent in others by teaching a group of like-minded friends from home who became known as The Cedarlea Art Group, which continued until 2019.
In later years before she became too frail, Rosemary and Denis trained several guide dog puppies, three of which became fully fledged Guide Dogs and she derived much pleasure from this activity.
She also returned to the world of higher education as a mature student by graduating in English from Dundee University.
Leisure time
Rosemary’s hobbies included reading, listening to songs from shows and many holidays in Scotland and Cumbria at various destinations including Inverbervie, Keswick, Ballater and Guay near Dunkeld.
Her son, Jonathan, said: “My mother was gregarious, sociable and sometimes sharp-tongued but never unkind.
“Although she taught in an era when corporal punishment was still routinely employed, she never needed to use it as she was able to control pupils simply by a look and by harnessing their talents through her infectious enthusiasm.
“Many such pupils have gone on to achieve great success in the fields of art, design and fashion.
“It is intended that an exhibition of her art will be held both in commemoration and in aid of the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association at a future date in Harris Academy, a school with which she had such a long and fulfilling association.”
Dental career
Denis Matheson-Dear, who died in 2017, was born in Deeside, educated at Banchory Academy and graduated from St Andrews University.
He began his career with Murray Scott before taking over the practice of Les Stephen in Albert Street where he operated for many years.
From there he divided time between surgeries in Brechin, Inverbervie and latterly solely from the family home in Blackness Road.
He was a founder member and past president of Claverhouse Rotary Club, past chairman of 41 Club and held office in Dundee Dental Club.
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