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T The Old Ratclifan 2012 | Introductionhe Old Ratclifan 2012 | Obituaries John Kerr Montgomery McKay MB BS MRCS LRCP Old Ratcliffian 1936-40 28th February 1923-15th April 2012 Born in Clydebank, Scotland, on 28th February 1923, John was the third of six children (he arrived shortly before his twin sister, Sheila) of Dr Patrick and Mrs Grace McKay. His younger brother, James, died in infancy, and his mother died in 1929, when John was six years of age. Educated, firstly, at the local Catholic primary school in Clydebank, then by the Jesuits at St Aloysius’ College, in Glasgow, John followed his elder brother, Patrick (36), to Ratcliffe College. As his uneventful (he always averred) schooldays drew to a close, he determined to be a priest of the Institute of Charity, so, at the age of seventeen, he became a novice of the Order at the Rosminian House in Sussex. It was wartime, and even the spiritual sanctuary of the novitiate was not immune – John’s preparation for the priesthood was to run less than smoothly. The family house for physically handicapped children in Fez. Three months in Clydebank was damaged during a German bombing raid became three years, during which he moved the project on the Clydeside docks, and John volunteered for the RAF. to Rabat and Casablanca. The Rabat part became a Leaving the novitiate, he travelled (in 1942) to South Africa boarding school for one hundred physically-handicapped – via Gibraltar and Brazil – to join his training squadron. children, while Casablanca became a children’s day-school After completing his training (delayed by peritonitis and an apprentice-training school (boarding and day) following a burst appendix) he was commissioned as a pilot for handicapped children. Before he left, John signed an in December 1943, sadly, shortly after his father had died. agreement between the Moroccan Government and the Returning to the UK some months later, he transferred to ‘Save the Children Fund’ – the children were delighted to the Fleet Air Arm, and trained to fly Barracuda torpedo see and hear ‘Dr John’ on television. bombers – although he later confessed he was never very Moving from healthcare project administration back to keen on landing on aircraft carriers! He saw active service medical practice, John returned to Algeria as Medical in the Far East, and was in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on the Officer to a British company, and honorary Chef de day of the Japanese surrender: the feast of the Assumption, Medecin of an Algerian Government hospital. Three years 15th August 1945. later, he decamped again, to become Chief Medical Officer of a large sugar corporation in Sudan, responsible for the John left the Navy in 1946 and returned to the novitiate. Three months later, he broke his leg! medical care and public health of a population of eighty- five thousand. John finally left Africa in 1983. Leaving the novitiate again – permanently this time – he became a schoolteacher in a preparatory school before Still craving a reliably warm climate, John enjoyed the enrolling as a medical student at St Mary’s Hospital, following eight years of semi-retirement based in Gibraltar Paddington (his father’s old medical school) in 1948. After and Spain. He made frequent visits to Sri Lanka, which graduation in 1955, he followed his elder brother (by then he described as ‘The Garden of Eden, repositioned’. After a newspaper editor) to Canada. The Canadian climate was much deliberation, he decided to return to Britain in 1991. not to his liking, however; he decided the warmth of Africa Initially choosing to live in Moreton-in-Marsh, he eventually would be more to his taste. felt that Droitwich would suit him better. He found an apartment not far from the parish church and school, both From 1962, John was the Medical Superintendent of a run by the Priests of the Order of the Sacred Heart. Alas, no hospital in Eastern Nigeria. Whilst he was on leave in sooner had he moved in, than the school suddenly closed, the UK in 1967, the outbreak of the Biafran War made so his hopes for ‘proper’ Masses with ‘proper’ choral singing it impossible for him to return to Nigeria; he lost all his were dashed! Nevertheless, he enjoyed living in Droitwich, belongings – including his car and a much-prized African from which he was still able to travel quite easily to meet, Grey parrot. He moved to Algeria to join a team as Chief lunch or stay with family and friends throughout the UK Medical Officer, caring for the fifty thousand inhabitants and abroad. of a commune. A year later, he was asked back to Nigeria where he practised in Lagos for a further two years. The As well as his closeness to his brother (who died in concept of career planning seemed alien to him – he 1984) and sisters and their families, John nourished the responded to need. friendships he made throughout his life. School friends, old colleagues, former teachers and godchildren would receive Asked to provide three months’ short-term help in notes, letters and postcards in his dreadful handwriting. Morocco, he took charge of a ‘Save the Children’ project Eventually, he accepted the technological assistance of 44 44