Former libraries chief Bill dies at age of 69

Mar 26 2009 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

A FORMER chief librarian of Hamilton District Libraries has died at the age of 69.

Bill McCoubrey lost his brave fight against cancer on March 7.

He is survived by his wife Katy and son Leachlainn.

Bill was brought up in Stonehouse and attended a village primary school before moving to Larkhall Academy.

After leaving school at the age of 16, he started work as a library assistant with Lanarkshire Libraries.

He married his first wife, Linda, in 1964 and the couple moved to Kent.

They later moved to Northern Ireland where Leachlainn, their only child, was born in 1973.

Bill worked as a deputy chief librarian in County Tyrone for 14 years but the family moved back to Scotland in 1984, where Bill took up the post of Chief Librarian at Hamilton District Libraries.

There he was responsible for revamping the libraries and introduced author visits.

Colleagues described his as “very sociable” and had a good working relationship with him.

He was also involved in the restructuring of Hamilton District Council’s libraries.

Bill and Linda later divorced and he married Katy in 1991. The couple lived in Strathaven.

Katy described Bill as being “incredibly cheerful with an outrageous sense of humour”.

He loved writing poetry and reading. He was also very proud of winning the Hugh MacDiarmid Tassie for the best poem written in the Scottish language.

Bill loved to travel and was fluent in French and German. He enjoyed watching rugby and football and was a keen Celtic supporter.

Bill retired at the age of 56 in 1996 before local government reorganisation.

He and Katy moved back to Northern Ireland but they finally settled back in Scotland and lived in a cottage just outside Blairgowrie in Perthshire.

Katy said: “Bill was incredibly brave through his illness and continued to be upbeat and cheery.

“He was enjoying his retirement very much. He was a very sociable person. We will all miss him very much.”

Bill’s funeral service was held in Kettins Church, Blairgowrie, and Perth Crematorium.