94765: Rev Fraser Macdonald

Rev Fraser Macdonald (1924-2013) was born in Oban.

Fraser was fascinated by the pulpit from an early age and practised his rhetorical style as a boy preaching to sheep.

He was exempt from service during the Second World War on health grounds, but obtained his MA at the University of Edinburgh. He became a licensed minister on the 10th of June 1952.

He was inducted on the 27th of August 1952. His arrival was published in the Stornoway Gazette District News on the 2nd of September 1952. He served in North Tolsta from 1952 to 1966. He learnt Gaelic and helped build the Free Presbyterian Manse in Tolsta. He married Sarah Macleod from Greenock, but with family links to the islands. He became friends with Rev Angus Finlayson and the pair debated in the correspondence columns of the Stornoway Gazette. In 1956 he was a Moderator of Synod.

He left Tolsta for Portree, where he served from the 21st of June 1966 until his retirement. His replacement Rev Donald Nicolson arrived in Tolsta in August 1967.

He was a Moderator of Synod a second time in 1976.

The couple had no children.

He retired on the 30th of April 2006.

In his final years he resided at the Budhmor Home, Portree. He died on the 29th of April 2013 in Broadford, Skye. His obituary was featured in The Herald and he is listed on the Free Presbyterian Church webpage for deceased ministers.