Service conducted by Pastor Gatellari

EULOGY WRITTEN BY BY DAN's DAUGHTER KERRY ~

My father was both mother and father to my sister Anne and myself. He would come home after a hard days work and cook meals and even though he burnt the chops, it tasted wonderful to us.

My most precious memory was the pajamas he machine sewed for himself, made from dozens of different pieces of material scraps of cloth. How many fathers would do that.

He had amazing skills and patience with orchids and would nuture them for years till they successfully flowered. Most of these orchids are now in my care. We would sometimes go for long walks in the bush collecting these orchids amidst the leeches and other yucky things.

Dad had a great love of birds. Perhaps he admired the freedom he might have envied. He detested caged birds and never kept any. When he was in the unit at the hostel he would, each afternoon, feed the birds around him and what a beautiful sight to see the magnificent rainbow lorikeets that he fed and the cheeky magpies that would actually walk into the house demanding to be fed mince meat.

He was very skilled in lapidary and used his skill to create jewellrey and other articles, many of which he gave to his wife Beryl.

He was also very proud of his trade as a Blacksmith and succeeded in not only gaining recognition for his skill whilst at college but also later in his job when he took part in a significant rebuilding of a factory.

He had an amazing amount of love, dedication and loyalty for my step-mother BERYL and would go to any lengths to ensure her comfort. He loved traveling with her and they would vanish for weeks while they explored the Australian countryside.

People and staff in Bernard Austin Lodge have always enjoyed looking after Dad and he got on well with the other residents there. Some have even made a special effort to visit him while he was in hospital. Not a small feat for those people.

Special mention should be made of Barry, Dad's friend. They were like the two old men who sat on the balcony in the muppet show. They sat at the same dining table. barry would help dad butter his bread or toast while the two would verbally spar with each other.

My father never complained and never demanded. He abhorred putting people to trouble and would go without rather than troubling others. Nurses at the hospital said he was a gem of a patient and others said he was a true gentleman.

He had so much dignity that not even hospital life could rob him of it.