John Roger, who spent a lifetime farming in Moray, has died aged 83.
Mr Roger and his three brothers operated four farms in the Elgin area before adding the acreage of two more in the 1980s.
He was also lifelong member and elder of Elgin High Church, an indoor and outdoor bowler, and took great pleasure in attending the monthly Bothy Blethers meetings for retired farmers in Fochabers.
Farming family
John Hardie Roger was born in 1937 at Scarffbanks Farm, the eldest son of John and Lillian Roger.
His grandfather, also John Roger, had moved from Hopeman to take over the farm in 1917.
He went to primary school in Elgin and then Elgin Academy and worked on the farm after school.
Working life
When John left school in 1952, he went straight to work on his father’s farm.
In 1956 his father added the tenancy of Myreside Farm, which John took over on his death in 1966.
He grew cereals and raised Aberdeen Angus cattle, which were mainly sold to local butchers.
Family business
John and his brothers Ronald, George and Neil operated as a company running, Scraffbanks, Myreside, Hangingfolds and Bardonside farms.
In the 1980s, they added the acreage of Woodlands and Casebriggs farms.
Pulling together
Each brother had two children and the eight cousins and their parents would work together on the farms at harvest times.
John’s daughter Lilian said: “He raised cattle and liked to attend agricultural shows but he never showed animals himself.
“He never liked to push himself forward. He was the kind of man who always found the good in other people and made them feel comfortable.”
John met his future wife, Nancy, at a young farmers’ meeting at the Two Red Shoes in Elgin and the couple married at the High Church in Elgin on July 17, 1963.
They went on to have two children, Lilian and Valerie, and three grandchildren Abbie, Ruari and Millie.
Bowler
Like many farmers, John could not bowl during the summer but played indoors in the winter before taking up outdoor bowls when he retired in 1999 and moved to Elgin.
Lilian said Moray Bowling Club flew its flag at half mast as a mark of respect when her father died.
John was an elder at the High Church, where he was baptised and married and where his funeral took place.