Stephen Wilkie, one of Dundee’s most successful racket sports players, has died aged 86.
At 17 he achieved a clean sweep of East Midlands junior badminton titles and continued his success in adulthood.
Known as Steve, went on to secure singles, mixed doubles and gents doubles trophies at regional level and won five consecutive doubles titles with partner Keith Stewart in the 1960s.
During his National Service he represented the RAF at badminton and tennis, and played tennis against army and navy sides at Wimbledon.
In later years Steve, who had a successful business career at Watson & Philip, Dundee, turned to squash and became president of Forthill Squash Club in the 1980s. He was also involved in developing the new courts and health suite building for Forthill Sports Club.
He was born in Lochee in June 1937 to Robert Wilkie, a jute tenter at Cox’s Camperdown Works and his wife, Mary, a dressmaker.
Steve had an older sister, Rita, who died last year, sister Mae, brother Bert, and a brother Jimmy, who died at just two days old.
He went to primary school at St Mary’s, Lochee, followed by Lawside Academy and spent much of his free time playing sport at Lochee Park.
He played football in the winter and tennis almost daily in the summer and began winning competitions from a young age.
Steve then joined Lochee Lawn Tennis Club where he turned out for the first team for almost his whole playing career from the mid 1950s until the late 1970s.
When he left school, Steve began his National Service with the RAF based at RAF Buchan, near Peterhead, and it was there he met his future wife, Eleanor.
On his return to civilian life, he began work with the direct labour department of Dundee Corporation where he picked up many practical skills.
In the late 1960s, he took up a post with Watson & Philip Limited the food distribution company which supplied Spar and VG stores throughout Scotland, and eventually more than 700 of their own Alldays franchises throughout the UK.
He joined the head office administrative team and quickly became a highly regarded member of staff.
Steve’s first major post was as a systems manager, the forerunner of an IT manager, computerising the purchase and distribution of goods to retail outlets.
This was during the pioneering days of businesses moving to the use of computers and he took an Open University course to learn to write software.
Board member
Steve was a member of the company’s board by the time the foodservices section had been sold to Brake Brothers Ltd, where he continued as head of business systems.
He retired in 2001 to spend time with his two sons and two daughters, and an increasing number of grandchildren.
In retirement he also indulged his other great passion, which was reading and collecting books.
His preference was to purchase first editions of hardbacks by his favourite authors as soon as they came out and he liked to browse second hand bookshops to collect early Pan Series paperbacks from the 1950s and early 1960s.
Passion for books
Steve acquired many DC Thomson and other comic annuals and accumulated a collection of more than 10,000 books.
He kept these in a bedrooom lined from floor to ceiling with shelves, his attic, and, eventually, his garage.
A Bonnetmaker and member of Downfield Golf Club, Steve along with Eleanor travelled widely across Europe with family and in retirement to the United States and Canada.
He was predeceased by Eleanor in January this year and is survived by his four children and six grandchildren.
His daughter, Pat Malone, said: “He was always very proud to have come from Lochee and his family were always given a very strong sense that was where his values and ambitions came from.”
You can read the family’s announcement here.
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