Dad

In many ways, I am very like my dad, Robert. My interests, my personality, even my sense of humour stems from him. There have been plenty of occasions in the past were people have remarked how much I looked, talked and acted like my father. I believe a lot of it is genetic, like, for example, an interest in cricket, which has passed through three generations of Turners (four if I could ever prove that a prominent Australian test cricketer from the 19th century was related to my grandfather) and our quiet, thoughtful natures. The writing gene is also inherited, dad used to write a lot of letters and so did his mother. So to, I believe, is the interest in crossword and number puzzles, seeing his father and himself were puzzle solvers, that and I used to play scrabble a lot with my grandmother when I visited her.

Dad was born in Armidale in 1943, at that time his father was serving in the army. My father was a primary school teacher for most of his adult life. He taught at a number of schools in the Tamworth district and even at one or two in the Bathurst area. His other main interest was stamps. He was a collector to begin with, but progressed to be an avid trader and one of the more knowledgable ones in the state. He was once the president of the Tamworth and district Philatelic society, and was once named philatelist of the year by Stamp News Monthly, a prominent philatelic magazine, for his efforts in starting and fostering collector groups across the state. Naturally, somewhere along the way, I got interested too, becoming the junior collector of the year in the Tamworth district. My collection still sits in the closet, where I have hardly touched it for three years.

Dad was married twice in his lifetime. He married mum back in 1967, and despite many hardships, and sad times, including the death of his brother Fred in 1973, and the collapse of the family business in 1986, they did stay together until death parted them in 1994, when mum passed away not long after my sister's wedding after a long battle with cancer.

In 1995 Dad's life took a turn for the better when he met his future second wife, who was quite different to my mother in so many ways. Whereas my mother was confident and outgoing, Chris was quite shy and quiet, much like me and my father. It was difficult, to say the least, to get used to seeing my father dating, and believe me, it was even stranger to be present at his second wedding, which took place in Bathurst back in 1999. Naturally, I was happy that he was happy, so I didn't try to change things at all.

In 2003, just after his 60th birthday, he was diagnosed with intestinal and liver cancer. Like mum, he fought it long and hard, but also like mum, he didn't win the fight, and passed away in March 2004 in Bathurst hospital. His last request was to hear people talking and laughing in the room, and whilst conversation started, he silently slipped away, and I just watched him go. I think I cried for the best part of an hour when I realised that he was dead. The funeral took place the next day, seeing it was the only window of opportunity available. I gave the eulogy (like I had done for my mother) and only just made it through without collapsing. If the audience wasn't already in tears at the start of the service, they were by the time I was finished.

When the estate had finally been sorted out, I was finally able to move off the Woy Woy peninsula and settle in East Gosford. There was even enough left over at the end of it to buy the laptop that I'm using to create this project.