Elder Buchanan

This picture was taken in June of 1952. Pres. McKay was returning to the US after making a tour of Europe and stopped off in Glasgow on his way to Prestwick Airport . He invited me and my companion and two lady missionaries to have dinner with him and sister McKay at the Glasgow Central Hotel. I had just been appointed District President of Scotland–a position Pres. McKay held fifty years before. He was the essence of courtesy and courtly manners.

2 years old

This was taken when I was about two years old (1933). I am standing in our garden with my back to Janefield Cottage our ancestral home built c. 1880 by my great grandfather, John Reid, Master Mason and “Laird of Stevenston.”

My mass of white curly hair caused people to say I was really Lloyd George, the Welsh radical liberal who was Prime Minister of the UK during World War I. So that explains my liberal tendencies.

If you look closely you will notice I am squinting–I didn’t like bright light. I think my mother had that summer suit made by a local seamstress–Mrs. McColl.

PS I have no memory of ever posing for this picture and by the look on my face I wasn’t very happy having to stand there in the sun.

Freddie BUCKANAN

So, you want to know what’s behind the photo of wee Freddie BUCKANAN? Well, good luck—I’ve been trying to figure that out myself these 70 odd years but I’ll try again.

I’m standing on the door step of #5 George Place, Stevenston. The step is worn down from the feet of the Hamiltons, Claspers, Reids and Buchanans who have passed this way. We didn’t have a camera so I think this photo was taken by Alex Leslie—who at this time, (1937-38) was courting my sister Betty. One way of impressing the family was to lavish lots of attention on the wee brither vis-a-vis the camera.

I’m rather dressed up so I must be going somewhere—I’m wearing shoes and long woolen socks instead of my usual bare feet. My coat seems to match my breeks and I’m wearing a white shirt under a sweater—snazzy, don’t you think? Look at my cow’s lick— Betty probably fixed my hair that way. Perhaps I was going to Largs to visit my grand mother—or maybe I was going to Glasgow to visit Brother and Sister McGowan—fellow LDS members. Perhaps I was just “all dressed up with nowhere to go.” I turned 7 in 1938 so maybe I was in formal wear for my solitary birthday party. That’s enough about my reasons for standing on the step of oor wee “but an’ ben .”

If you could magnify my knees you’d see many a scar from falling while running. Betty was continually scrubbing and bandaging my knees to prevent them from getting infected. Notice my right eye—it’s a “lazy eye” condition which I still have—one eyelid is lower than the other. Note the large ears which I was very conscious of. I was teased by school mates who nicknamed me “elephant ears” or "Jumbo.”

Behind me you will see a paneled door—this separated our lobby from the “living/bed/kitchen/dining room.” The door to my right was the entrance to “the room,” where Bill slept and where I was born.

That’s about as much detail as I can conjure up about the meaning of this photograph. Alex must have taken it because it is perfectly centered—indeed, if I were to lift up my arms and spread out my legs I could become a junior version of Leonardo’s perfect human!!!!! ho ho ho.

Cheerio the noo.