Obituary - Archibald Smith Crawford, lawyer, honorary sheriff and chorister. An appreciation

Died: September 12, 2016

ARCHIE Crawford, who has died aged 86, was a respected lawyer, honorary sheriff and a bright light of Paisley culture.

He first came to my notice when, as a boy (maybe in my early teens, perhaps younger), I was taken by my parents to see a production of Merrie England. I think it was in the King’s Theatre in Glasgow. One thing I remember clearly was being stunned by the lyric tenor voice of the person who sang Dan Cupid Hath a Garden.

That person was Archie Crawford. And the amazing thing is that, through the years, right up until is 86th birthday, Archie never lost the ability to sing these beautiful high notes. On his own admission, he maybe growled a bit on the low notes latterly, but the high notes still came out with a remarkable purity. Who in Lylesland Church, Paisley (where he sang in the choir for over 50 years) can forget his singing of the tenor part in Stainer’s Crucifixion? Who among his fellow members of Paisley Burns Club can forget his heart-rending singing, unaccompanied, of John Anderson, my Jo, John?

It is also hard to forget some of the parts he played in countless OGADS productions, many of them winners of international competitions. It’s a few years now since the OGADS was wound up, but I am sure that most readers will recognise this as the acronym for the Old Grammarians Amateur Dramatic Society.

Archie attended the John Neilson Institution, after which, having a flair for drawing, he began training as an architect. He was a gifted artist. He sketched and painted in watercolour wherever he went on holiday, recording the scene before him as a form of diary in a series of notebooks. However, after his national service with the army, he changed course and began training as a lawyer. He went on to be a partner with Pattison and Sim right through until his retirement.

He was a court lawyer and this was eminently suited to him. For, above all, he loved words. His middle name, Smith, was well deserved. He was a wordsmith. He wrote poetry. He loved Gilbert and Sullivan with the skilful word play. He wrote scripts for plays. He wrote a few hymns. He loved to talk. The main benefit for his fellow members of Paisley Burns Club was that he wrote exquisite minutes of not only our annual dinners but also our monthly meetings, during his 11-year tenure as our minute secretary – true works of art, full of humour and lovely turns of phrase.

His way with words was also evident in his professional life – mainly, this time, the spoken word. I stopped doing civil court work some years ago, but, during the days when I did that, I always marvelled at how Archie could turn an otherwise boring ordinary court into an entertainment. He was held in high esteem by his professional colleagues – and this culminated in his being appointed an honorary sheriff.

Archie was also a man of the church. As well as his service in the church choir, he was an elder at Lylesland for over 30 years and held various offices. Whenever thorny issues arose at kirk session meetings, the heads invariably turned to where Archie was sitting, to find out what he thought. His counsel was always wise – born of years of experience, but at the same time tempered by an amazingly youthful outlook.

Archie found the love of his life in Janette Odam, whom he met during a production of Il Seraglio. They were married in 1963 and were blessed with three children – Michael, Claire and Angela. Sadly, Janette died on cancer aged just 52 in 1991. Archie had just retired early to be able to care for and spend more time with her. Archie coped so well with his teenage family and with adjusting to a new and unexpected retirement.

JOHN ARMIT