A popular and well-known Keswick man died at home, a week after last being seen at work at the Lakes Distillery.
Retired teacher 67-year-old Alan Wise lived at Howrah’s Court, where he was known for helping those living nearby.
His neighbours raised the alarm after failing to see him for some days.
Alan was the son of the late Audrey and Ronnie Wise, his father working at the famous Keswick School of Industrial Art.
The family lived in a cottage near Keswick School but his parents moved to the Howrah’s in later life and Alan initially joined his mother there after his father’s death.
He was very musical and was a talented self-taught guitar player who was known for entertaining people with his music in several pubs in the Keswick area.
Alan attended the then Lairthwaite School before joining the sixth form at Keswick School. He trained as a teacher at college in Liverpool and taught sciences at Kelso High School.
He married Cynthia, a district nurse there, and the couple had two sons, John and James, but the couple later divorced.
Alan returned to his native Keswick after taking early retirement from teaching but soon began working again, first helping his uncle, George Wise, on the Fisher family estate near Bassenthwaite, and more recently at the Lakes Distillery.
He greatly enjoyed both the work and camaraderie there.
Colleagues said he had seemed well and had done his full day’s work on the Thursday before last.
However, he is not believed to have been seen since and was found at his home exactly a week later.
Alan is survived by sons John, in Kelso, and James, who is married and lives in Finland, former wife Cynthia, his sister, Valerie Ive, a retired doctor who lives in Surrey, as well as relatives in the Keswick and Penrith areas.
