Russell Hunter (05/04/1966 - 05/07/2023)
Eulogy by Graham Hunter (brother)
Well Big Brother
Well big brother, a jokes a joke, but ….. enough is enough,,,,, where are you……?
I, as a lot of you here…… am struggling to accept that the gentle legend that is my brother, Russell, won’t just be walking through the door later, or calling on the phone to talk general nonsense for an hour.
Surely this must just be one of those times when Russell just fell off the grid for a wee while, and then popped up again with a grin and a joke.
He was always a joker, with a great sense of humour. But, hey Russell…… this one is not funny.
You were funny most of the time………frequently the funniest guy in the room. …..Russell had a good friend called Angus and they frequently drove together from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. On entering Dundee, there is a big county border sign saying, “Welcome to Angus”, ……Russell had always wanted to stop and deface the sign by changing it to “Welcome to Angus …..and Russell”.
Some of you may know that Russell was the best man at my wedding, and indeed he pulled no punches during his speech and revealed pretty much all my youthful secrets and misdemeanours,…… leaving poor mum a quivering wreck at the top table. …Russell told our parents all about the frequent house parties we had as young lads…..Yes mum, the parties at the house….. when you and Dad were away, ……were fantastic. We are sorry but Russell and I have no regrets …as they were so much fun, …..full of laughter and music., …and always with a wee bit of alcohol knocking around….
I could get my own back on you today, but I’m going to let you off the hook, bro…….. Today is about telling everyone what you were really like and not about your secrets and misdemeanours….I’m sure there weren’t many of them…. Eh!
The truth is…..You were very annoying!
You were annoyingly good …at so many things.
You were annoying good at playing. ….The rest of us had to practice 10 times harder and would never reach your level of musical ability……The best tunes of course were around the family piano, where your version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” often had 14 or 15 days ……and demonstrated frequently, an irreverent deviation from the normal lyrics……. Incidentally , a song that Molly will always smile at and…… never think of ….in the same way again.
Each version was of course, different from the previous one.
Your musical talents and abilities have been appreciated by so many other musicians who have all sent us ….such wonderful tributes …..to your talent and your memory. You played on around 50 recordings, appeared frequently on the radio…. and off course your legendary appearance in the comedy drama “Para Handy; a Highland Voyage”, where we all got to hear your great musical skills ….and your singing.
Your talents were also put to good use in one of your other jobs…. as an extra in many films. You were very selfdeprecating about your talent. We remember Eileen asking you to play on one of her albums, the song,” The Hills of Lorne” written by our grandfather Charlie Hunter, and you felt that Eileen should get someone better to play the fiddle for her, not you. What a Wally, of course you were good enough and the perfect choice to play on that recording, and you did an amazing job.
Another reason…..you were so annoying, was, how….. you managed to soak up information particularly around history and politics ….so easily. …..Both subjects you really enjoyed. Not sure I always agreed with your politics, but I would always bow to your historical knowledge.
Our visit to Rudyard Kipling’s house, a national Trust Property close to us in Sussex said it all. Russell started speaking to one of the volunteers who was there to impart some knowledge about Kipling’s life and works to visitors. It was like watching “Jaws” the movie…. as Russell circled the elderly gentleman initially from a distance before going in for the kill. …..After about 10 minutes of dialogue, it became clear Russell knew far more about Kipling’s life than the poor elderly gentleman did… who was left a trembling wreck and feeling wanting, ….in Kipling’s original study….. No blood was shed by the way folks, just to put your minds at ease.
Russell was so good with all his nieces and nephews and loved them all dearly. I remember him accompanying our Becky when she was so young and taking piano lessons. Russell would slow down or speed up to keep pace with Becky and the duets always sounded amazing, leaving the biggest smile on Becky’s face. As did Hamish smile when Russell on the piano,….changed the words for the well know song “chitty chitty bang bang” to “shitty shitty bum bum”, whispering, “don’t tell your mum”.
Esme will always remember Russell’s story of how small children on their way to school found the streets of Pathhead paved with pennies and small change. They all giggled and laughed as they thought…… magic was afoot…. with so much money scattered down the Main Street. ….This was of course… Russell ……. who had decided that bagging the small change and taking it to the bank had little purpose and was too much hassle… but seeing small children smile was far more worthwhile.
Russell came with us to watch my son George play rugby against Currie RFC. George had injured his shoulder during the game but …..THANK goodness…. for Russell’s knowledge and connections regarding the drinking establishments of the area. We stopped at ” The Foresters pub” in Pathhead, where Russell took George into the pub kitchen and came out again… with his shoulder bulging …..having been wrapped in ice and clingfilm. ……Russell was a great Uncle.
I do want to say a big thank you to uncles and aunts who were always around to give Russell a wee hand when he needed. Alison and Hugh, David and Elaine, Kay and Hilly and Andrew for restoring Granny Taylor’s old Beckstein piano for him……Thank you ….from us…. You have all played a huge role in supporting Russell… A big thank you to the Shaws and the Livingston families for all their kind support and help over the years and of course Joe who was with Russell at the end……..But the person that I think deserves the most credit for help and coping admirably, is our old cleaner and babysitter Margaret Cantly who survived amazing well for years …..with two young teenage boys waring, disagreeing, physically and verbally taking chunks out of each other ……….everyday day when we got home from school. Thank you, Margaret, …..you were a special and long serving lady.
As in one of Russell’s favourite films, Monty Python’s Life of Brian ,…. in a song….. said “For life is quite absurd, and death’s the final word, you must always face the curtain with a bow”. ……It’s your turn… big brother… to take a bow. …..The ‘audience will grin’ and cheer and you will leave the stage with the knowledge that you are in our hearts and minds forever.
Go and have a dram and a tune with Dad now…….off you go.
Editor's Note - I am indebted to Graham and Eileen for providing the above and allowing me to add it to the Archive.as a lasting tribute to a great muician and character who was taken from us all too soon.
I, as a lot of you here…… am struggling to accept that the gentle legend that is my brother, Russell, won’t just be walking through the door later, or calling on the phone to talk general nonsense for an hour.
Surely this must just be one of those times when Russell just fell off the grid for a wee while, and then popped up again with a grin and a joke.
He was always a joker, with a great sense of humour. But, hey Russell…… this one is not funny.
You were funny most of the time………frequently the funniest guy in the room. …..Russell had a good friend called Angus and they frequently drove together from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. On entering Dundee, there is a big county border sign saying, “Welcome to Angus”, ……Russell had always wanted to stop and deface the sign by changing it to “Welcome to Angus …..and Russell”.
Some of you may know that Russell was the best man at my wedding, and indeed he pulled no punches during his speech and revealed pretty much all my youthful secrets and misdemeanours,…… leaving poor mum a quivering wreck at the top table. …Russell told our parents all about the frequent house parties we had as young lads…..Yes mum, the parties at the house….. when you and Dad were away, ……were fantastic. We are sorry but Russell and I have no regrets …as they were so much fun, …..full of laughter and music., …and always with a wee bit of alcohol knocking around….
I could get my own back on you today, but I’m going to let you off the hook, bro…….. Today is about telling everyone what you were really like and not about your secrets and misdemeanours….I’m sure there weren’t many of them…. Eh!
The truth is…..You were very annoying!
You were annoyingly good …at so many things.
You were annoying good at playing. ….The rest of us had to practice 10 times harder and would never reach your level of musical ability……The best tunes of course were around the family piano, where your version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” often had 14 or 15 days ……and demonstrated frequently, an irreverent deviation from the normal lyrics……. Incidentally , a song that Molly will always smile at and…… never think of ….in the same way again.
Each version was of course, different from the previous one.
Your musical talents and abilities have been appreciated by so many other musicians who have all sent us ….such wonderful tributes …..to your talent and your memory. You played on around 50 recordings, appeared frequently on the radio…. and off course your legendary appearance in the comedy drama “Para Handy; a Highland Voyage”, where we all got to hear your great musical skills ….and your singing.
Your talents were also put to good use in one of your other jobs…. as an extra in many films. You were very selfdeprecating about your talent. We remember Eileen asking you to play on one of her albums, the song,” The Hills of Lorne” written by our grandfather Charlie Hunter, and you felt that Eileen should get someone better to play the fiddle for her, not you. What a Wally, of course you were good enough and the perfect choice to play on that recording, and you did an amazing job.
Another reason…..you were so annoying, was, how….. you managed to soak up information particularly around history and politics ….so easily. …..Both subjects you really enjoyed. Not sure I always agreed with your politics, but I would always bow to your historical knowledge.
Our visit to Rudyard Kipling’s house, a national Trust Property close to us in Sussex said it all. Russell started speaking to one of the volunteers who was there to impart some knowledge about Kipling’s life and works to visitors. It was like watching “Jaws” the movie…. as Russell circled the elderly gentleman initially from a distance before going in for the kill. …..After about 10 minutes of dialogue, it became clear Russell knew far more about Kipling’s life than the poor elderly gentleman did… who was left a trembling wreck and feeling wanting, ….in Kipling’s original study….. No blood was shed by the way folks, just to put your minds at ease.
Russell was so good with all his nieces and nephews and loved them all dearly. I remember him accompanying our Becky when she was so young and taking piano lessons. Russell would slow down or speed up to keep pace with Becky and the duets always sounded amazing, leaving the biggest smile on Becky’s face. As did Hamish smile when Russell on the piano,….changed the words for the well know song “chitty chitty bang bang” to “shitty shitty bum bum”, whispering, “don’t tell your mum”.
Esme will always remember Russell’s story of how small children on their way to school found the streets of Pathhead paved with pennies and small change. They all giggled and laughed as they thought…… magic was afoot…. with so much money scattered down the Main Street. ….This was of course… Russell ……. who had decided that bagging the small change and taking it to the bank had little purpose and was too much hassle… but seeing small children smile was far more worthwhile.
Russell came with us to watch my son George play rugby against Currie RFC. George had injured his shoulder during the game but …..THANK goodness…. for Russell’s knowledge and connections regarding the drinking establishments of the area. We stopped at ” The Foresters pub” in Pathhead, where Russell took George into the pub kitchen and came out again… with his shoulder bulging …..having been wrapped in ice and clingfilm. ……Russell was a great Uncle.
I do want to say a big thank you to uncles and aunts who were always around to give Russell a wee hand when he needed. Alison and Hugh, David and Elaine, Kay and Hilly and Andrew for restoring Granny Taylor’s old Beckstein piano for him……Thank you ….from us…. You have all played a huge role in supporting Russell… A big thank you to the Shaws and the Livingston families for all their kind support and help over the years and of course Joe who was with Russell at the end……..But the person that I think deserves the most credit for help and coping admirably, is our old cleaner and babysitter Margaret Cantly who survived amazing well for years …..with two young teenage boys waring, disagreeing, physically and verbally taking chunks out of each other ……….everyday day when we got home from school. Thank you, Margaret, …..you were a special and long serving lady.
As in one of Russell’s favourite films, Monty Python’s Life of Brian ,…. in a song….. said “For life is quite absurd, and death’s the final word, you must always face the curtain with a bow”. ……It’s your turn… big brother… to take a bow. …..The ‘audience will grin’ and cheer and you will leave the stage with the knowledge that you are in our hearts and minds forever.
Go and have a dram and a tune with Dad now…….off you go.
Editor's Note - I am indebted to Graham and Eileen for providing the above and allowing me to add it to the Archive.as a lasting tribute to a great muician and character who was taken from us all too soon.