MY DAD - in no particular order by Gella

Dad was :-

• my mentor
• the devoted husband to Pat, my equally devoted mother
• the proud family man
• lifelong friend to Margaret and Bill, Edna and Geoff, Enid and Ray, the Mitchells and all their families
• the delighted bringer of bulging pockets, filled with bags of sweets on a Friday night
• my first dance partner and my first singing teacher and driving instructor
  the mischievous creator of mysteries
• the most generous man I have ever met
• the captain of the dinghy where I learned to sail
• the driver to adventures in Crackly Woods, Yarningale Common and family holidays in Wales, Cornwall, Devon and France
• the gentlest and most considerate man
• the bearer of the most delightful smile, until it was robbed by the dreaded Parkinson’s Disease
• the proud builder of a fantastic business and very caring employer
• dignified throughout all the indignities, humiliation and pain brought on by the disease
• a committed convert to the Catholic Church and Minister of the Eucharist
• grateful for being a Barnardo Boy and learning his trade at Goldings
• the hardworking man in the pantry, the coal house or the dining room
• reciter of poetry, musician & chorus member of MOS, treading the boards at 67 for the first time
• the proud author of Barnardo Boy
• a lover of birds and nature
• a lover of music, bugler and brass player
• the problem-solver, inventor and lover of gadgets and ‘top of the range’ products
• the charmer of anyone who came into contact with him, especially nurses
• the one who put others first always
• my loving father

Angela Billingham 11th February, 2005