Everyone whom knew my father knew him as a very proud man. He was a bus driver for 38yrs, in Adelaide South Australia. He was also a very private man, whom never let anyone know what he was about, but those who knew him respected him. Dad always had another saying "Never let the left hand know what the right hand is doing."

He retired from the buses after 38yrs of service, with cancer of the kidney. Being the man that he was not even his wife knew how sick he was, it was his wish that everyone around him carry on as nothing was wrong, which is very brave.

The last two years of his life he devoted to his grandchildren, which were his reason for living. Every chance he had, he would be playing with his grandchildren. We would say to him throughout the years, "Dad don't spoil them," his reply would be "Its Okay, I can hand them back to you to straighten out, because I couldn't spoil you". His reply and actions would make us all smile because we know he loved us all. He would always play games with his grandchildren, if Dad was winning he would always make mistakes to give his grand-kids a chance to win and gain their confidence. Actually he was like that with everyone he knew. He was always clever enough to win almost anything but always let the underdog catch up. This was part of Dads attitude to life always and everyone respected him for this. Our kids carry on this attitude give every one a chance.

The night before he passed away, Mum and Dad were visiting at my home in the afternoon. It was a Friday afternoon as I remember, because they always went to Bingo in the afternoon then visited with our two daughters for awhile on the way home. When it was time to pick up my daughters from school, Mum and I drove down to the school to pick the girls up. Dad sat under the veranda ready the afternoon news. The girls were always excited to see Grand-dad, they knew they could get away with anything when Grand-dad was visiting. Everyone played happily for a few hours, Dad was even talking to our next door neighbor about playing Golf on the weekend. It was tea time, Take-away Nana and Grand-dad was visiting, soon the afternoon and evening was over and Nana and Grand-dad had to go home.

The next morning there was a phone call from Mum, Gary my husband answered the phone. All Mum had told him was, "Dad was sick", but some how we all knew what was wrong. By the time we got there, Dad had passed away. Somehow we got through that week it was the hardest time of our

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

---

Add your voice

Know something about Memoirs: Death of a parent?
We want to hear your view. Write now!