Just before Christmas, very sad news reached the Old Princethorpians that James MacFarquhar who attended the College from 1983 to 1989, had passed away peacefully on Saturday 4 December.
His good friend Simon Trahern remembers him here:
"I am sad to report that, Old Princethorpian James MacFarqhar passed away in December at the age of 51. He leaves behind his wife Sue.
He attended Princethorpe from 1983 to 1989. He left Princepthorpe having completed the sixth form and went on initially to teacher training at Newman University, Birmingham. Having decided teaching was not for him, he moved to Keele University to read computer programming. From 1995 James was a computer software engineer at BAE Systems. James moved to Hull in 2007 where he met his wife, Sue. James changed jobs to be an IT technician at Hull Royal Infirmary, taking early retirement in 2014.
James was born with severe congenital heart disease (Eisenmenger's syndrome). Throughout his life, he underwent a number of procedures and operations to help to manage the condition and as he got older he constantly outlived his prognoses, eventually becoming a patient with adult congenital heart disease, a speciality that was developed and grew around patients like James.
James and I met in the first few days of starting Princethorpe. James had been moved into C3, the form I was in, as the class’ timetable involved less movement around the school. We quickly became close friends. Our birthdays were within a day of each other. James was instrumental in setting up the Dungeons and Dragons club at the College and we established a close group of friends, spending many hours playing D&D in the school library.
When we left school James and I kept in touch. On one occasion James came to spend a weekend with me in Devon. It was the day of the solar eclipse and we decided to walk up to Dartmoor to watch the event. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It took quite a while as James struggled with the hill due to his health. In true James spirit, he never complained and never gave up.
It was a delight to attend his wedding to Sue in 2010. It really was a joyous occasion. A few years later James was my best man at my wedding. It was an honour to have him as my support and he did a fabulous job keeping me calm throughout the day.
In more recent years, we kept in touch through social media and occasional phone calls. James and his wife Sue enjoyed travelling and we enjoyed comparing the cruises we had each been on. James took up photography which is something he was rather good at, although he would never admit it.
During the last two years, James’ health began to deteriorate. He never let it get him down and he faced each new challenge with optimism and determination. With the pandemic in full swing visiting was difficult but our group of OPs managed several zoom calls with him, sharing news and reminiscing about our days at Princethorpe and the mischief some of us got up to.
James died of heart failure, a complication of his condition, at the age of 51, his life expectancy at birth should not have seen him reach adulthood. Babies born today with this condition have a far better prognosis and the chance of leading near-normal life's partly due to the courage of people like James who initially trialled treatments and underwent the procedures that are more refined and commonplace today."
We send our sincere condolences to James' family and all his friends.