DR WILLIE Mason was born in Paisley and educated at Paisley Grammar School and Glasgow Academy. He became a dental student at Glasgow University in 1942 and qualified Licentiate in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1947. After further training he obtained the Higher Dental Diploma in 1949.
Completing his National Service in 1950, he returned to Paisley and started his own practice. In 1951, he became the dental surgeon for Paisley and District Hospitals and, in 1956, he was appointed a visiting dental surgeon at Glasgow Dental Hospital and School.
In 1957 he spent a year at the University of Dalhousie in Nova Scotia, Canada, and graduated doctor of dental surgery in 1958. He won the Frank Woodbury Memorial Prize and the C V Mosby Prize for Oral Diagnosis and Radiology.
On his return to Scotland he expanded his practice and developed his interest in clinical diagnosis and treatment planning.
In 1958 he was invited by the dean of dentistry of the Glasgow Dental Hospital and School to train further in radiology. In 1964 he became a senior house officerwith duties in dental radiology and conservative dentistry, finally becoming head of the dental radiology department in 1966.
While continuing to expand practices in Paisley and Linwood, Mason gradually established one of the leading departments of oral and dental radiology in the UK and, with clinical colleagues, applied many of the new techniques of visualisation to clinical practice and introduced generations of dental students to the subject.
He was active in the British Society of Dental and Maxillofacial Radiology, becoming its president in 1975. He was a prime mover in introducing specialist training programmes and in the foundation of the diploma in dental radiology, in 1984, within the Royal College of Radiologists. He was recognised as a founder diplomate in dental radiology in 1985.
In 1967 he was awarded the Fellowship in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and in 1981was president of the Glasgow Odontological Society.
Throughout his career, Mason was a great believer in the role of the general dental practioner as part-time teacher in undergraduate and postgraduate education, and he and his practice in Paisley played a pivotal part in providing vocational education to many dentists graduating from the school of dentistry.
Away from his professional life he had many interests. He was an accomplished pianist and an excellent golfer in his youth. He had been a member of Paisley and Kilmacolm golf clubs and, when his children started playing, of Ralston Golf Club.
He was a keen Rotarian and for more than 50 years was a member of the Rotary Club of Paisley. In 1998, with 11 likeminded men, Mason founded the Makerston Club to help the Paisley community. During the eight years that he was a member, the club donated thousands of pounds to charity.
Latterly, and especially during his retirement, he enjoyed gardening and painting. A visit to his garden was a memorable and colourful experience. His greenhouses were, throughout the year, a hive of activity. He grew many plants from seed and generously shared his horticultural spoils with his friends.
He had always enjoyed the artistic aspects of dentistry and, in retirement, he found painting a natural progression, working mainly in pastels and oils. He exhibited his work at Paisley Art Institute and in Glasgow.
Mason was a kind, gentle but ambitious man who enjoyed his professional life, retirement and, most of all, his family. Nothing gave him more pleasure than the time he spent with his wife, Lilias, and his children, George and Sheena. When his grandchildren, Julia, Ross and Gordon, were old enough, he patiently taught each of them to paint. He also spent hours teaching them to play boules, at which he was a master.
During his final years, he fought cancer with great courage, spirit and dignity.
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