North-east man in search for former Keith Grammar pupil William Garden
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A NORTH-EAST man is searching for a former Keith Grammar pupil, to whom he owes his career.
Dr James Reid Baxter, who was born in Buckie, lived in Broomhill Road, Keith until 1960 and attended Banff Academy, is trying to track down his former best pal William Garden – also born in 1954 – who used to live at Woodside Farm, near Rothiemay.
Dr Reid Baxter, who worked as a translator at the European Parliament in Luxembourg for 25 years, would like to thank Mr Garden for a present he gave him half a century ago, which changed the course of his life.
For his 13th birthday, James received a "teach yourself Spanish" book from William, who quipped "you're good at languages so you can learn Spanish for me, because I'm nae!"
James proceeded to teach himself Spanish and later changed his university course in order to study the language in Aberdeen, getting an MA and PhD in Spanish and Portuguese.
This led him to living in Bogotá, Colombia, researching his PhD, before he became a translator at the European Parliament in 1987, shortly after Spain joined the EU.
James added Luxembourgish to several other languages he knows, including German, when he lived in the small central European country.
"Willie Garden’s wee present changed the course of my life," James said. "He kent I liked books and was interested in languages so he bought me that.
"Unfortunately I can't find any trace of Willie to thank him.
"We met on a school cruise to Scandinavia and Poland, aboard the Dunera, in May 1967 when we were in S1, and stayed in touch via letter and then visits. But we lost touch after school."
James, whose father was a science teacher at Keith Grammar, recalled that William left school around 1970 and that his mother had been a district nurse.
He is hopeful that anyone with any information will get in touch with him via letter. His address is 19 Cadogan Road, Edinburgh, EH16 6LY.
