Dad's legs healed beautifully in the end, but his prostate disease progressed and affected his stomach. He was quite miserable with stomach pains. He stopped eating about a month ago and his rate of decline accelerated. I saw him in early June and planned to visit again this weekend, but he died on the 29th June. We held the funeral on 5th July and it was a lovely send off.
We held a private cremation in the morning, which was very quiet and dignified. Then in the afternoon we held the memorial service. Instead of the coffin we were able to put up two tables to display some special objects of significance in his life. There was also a beautiful slide show tribute arranged by the funeral directors, which my mother now has on a disc and I'm sure she will treasure.
My sister and I delivered this eulogy at the service:
Ross Scott
Ross
was born on 3 December 1920 to Archie and Jessie Scott in Gidginbung
near
Temora NSW, where his father and uncle
were sharecroppers from St Albans, Geelong. His brother Lindsay was nine years
older.
His
mother wanted to call him Ross – which was her family name - but his father
wanted him named Leslie Archibald after himself and a deceased uncle. After
some discussion, his father’s wishes prevailed. But although his father won
that battle, his mother won the war. He was always known as Ross.
The family returned to Victoria when Dad was two years old and
bought a farm at Leopold where they raised cows and cereal crops until 1935 when
the bank foreclosed on all but 9 acres. The family ultimately moved into a
house in Darling St, East Geelong and his father and brother did all kinds of
work to keep the family afloat.
As
a child of the Depression dad was adept at making do. Twenty years ago he had a
pair of slippers he was particularly fond of, so when they wore out, he thought
nothing of resoling them himself. Unfortunately the sole material he chose was
slippery and when he went outside to the garage he slipped and fell flat flat on
his face, breaking his front teeth. Luckily they were repaired (at considerably
greater cost than a new pair of slippers) Thankfully not all of of his repairs
were a disaster. He quite successfully repaired an unrepairable microwaves (with
a rubber band).
When
Ross left school at fourteen, he almost became a tailor. He was first employed
by Geelong tailors, Mr Myerson and then
Mr Trapnell. but both of these businesses closed down and he finally found work
with Maurie Jacobs in July 1936. There he sold manchester, travel rugs,
suitcases and denims. He even sold lawn mowers. He worked there until he
joined the RAAF
It
was at Jacobs that he made a lifelong friend in Mick O’Connor, and it was
through Mick’s father that Dad was introduced to classical music. These two
young men also shared a love of dancing, motor cycles and photography. Dad used
to love going dancing on a Saturday night at the Palais and had his favourite
partners for different dances. He said
things would have to be pretty crook for him to miss a Saturday night at the
Palais.
While working for Maurie Jacobs, Ross started taking watchmaking
lessons twice a week from Mr Brian Seymour who had a backyard workshop. Each
lesson cost 2/6. At the time Ross’ weekly wage was 15/- and out of that he paid
his parents 5/- for board. He became qualified after four years of
lessons,
When
war broke out Ross applied to join the RAAF and was accepted in September 1940.
He started as an instrument repairer but was eventually able to have his
watchmaking qualifications recognised and his mustering was upgraded to that of
Instrument maker.
He
achieved the rank of corporal and served in two squadrons: 13 and 21. He had
overseas service with both. His time
with number 13 squadron coincided with the battle of Ambon where he was
extremely lucky to be evacuated before the island was overrun by the
Japanese. He was also in Darwin during
the Japanese air raids in Feb 1942. During one of those raids a bomb exploded
only a few metres from him – and his hearing was affected forever
after.
Sadly
his father became gravely ill shortly after the Darwin bombing and Dad was
granted compassionate leave to travel south - but not the means to do so. As he
was still recovering from malaria at the time, it was no small feat for him to
make his way from Darwin to Melbourne without official assistance. Thankfully
he arrived in time to farewell his father and comfort his mother and he was
subsequently redeployed to number 21 squadron at Laverton.
He
was demobbed at the end of 1945. he was able to set up in business as a
watchmaker in Geelong a week later – on his 25th
birthday.
The
business initially thrived because he was one of the few who could make his own
balance staffs for watch repairs, but the business soon grew to include
selling watches and jewellery. Dad went
on to study gemmology in 1956 and diamond technology in 1960. In 1967 he was
also instrumental in forming the Geelong Gem and Mineral Club and was its
founding president.
Over
four decades ‘Ross Scott, Watchmaker and Jeweller’ became a highly regarded
business, operating across three shopfronts in Jacobs St. It reached its peak
in the early seventies with the opening of the Ring Boutique at number 7 Jacobs
street, which is still remembered for its unique interactive conveyer belt
display of rings (invented by dad.) He
also foreshadowed power point presentations with his automatic slide shows of
rings, which played each night in the window.
He personally took every photo in a jury rigged close- up box with his
first SLR cameral – which his grandson now owns and uses
In
1987 Mum and Dad finally retired (dad aged 67 & mum 61). The store’s final
location was on the corner of Moorabool and Ryrie St. Once they retired they wondered how they had
ever had time for work- what with their busy schedule of: organ society,
painting classes, portrait group, new vogue dancing and overseas travel.
It
was great to see them have time for themselves at last.
Ross
& Lorraine married in April 1949 and they built their first home in Roslyn
Road, Belmont in 1951. Cheryl and Lynda were both born there and in 1963 the
expanding family moved to Alkoomi Ave, Hamlyn Hts, where Tracy was born in
1965. Mum and Dad remained there until last year when they moved into the BUPA
nursing home at Newcomb, a move precipitated by Mum falling and breaking a hip
nearly a year ago.
When September holidays were being planned he would bring us the
map and say “where will we go this time?” hoping that we would way “Flinders
Ranges”or Coober Pedy- but every time the answer was the same. QUEENSLAND!! So
we would hook up the caravan and head up the Hume Highway. As the afternoon closed in we would pick up
the RACV camping and caravan guide to pick out our accommodation for the night.
It would only be selected if it had a swimming pool/trampoline/playground. He did all the driving on those holidays and
we would doze, sing jingles and generally bicker in the back seats. One memorable trip had him drive from
Coolangatta to Geelong in one day – and a large chunk of the
night.
Dad eventually taught us all to drive – He’d even taught Mum before they were married. We found him to be a very patient teacher
although he did develop a nervous cough while Cheryl was behind the wheel. Mum told us that her driving lessons did put
a great strain on their early relationship.
He’d once told her after a particularly noisy gear change that it was
“lucky the gears are in a box”
Dad loved his cars. He
changed them every two years until the '70s.
He took great care of his cars – lovingly washing them every weekend and
polishing them every other weekend.
We girls were lucky enough to get an education that that allowed us
to aspire to university. Something which Dad never had.
After graduating, Cheryl moved to Tasmania and Tracy lived and
worked in Melbourne. Lynda stayed in
Geelong and joined the family business.
Cheryl
and Lynda both married and had five children between them. Sadly, we lost Tracy
to cancer in 2002 – and this was a great blow to us all, but one of enduring
sadness for Mum and Dad.
One
of Dad’s career highlights was the chance to lead a jeweller’s world study tour
in 1970. Along with the usual sights of Europe and UK, he had the opportunity
to see the de Beers diamond mines of South Africa, the Rolex watch factory in
Switzerland, the Crown jewels of Britain and pearls from Mikimoto island in
Japan. This has inspired Cheryl to travel and she is disappointed that she won’t
be able to share her upcoming trip to Europe with him. I know he would have
loved to hear more about his favourite country, Switzerland
Mum
and Dad enjoyed travel overseas together too, visiting the US several times, the
Philippines, Japan, the Caribbean and the UK.
They also enjoyed activities closer to home. They were founding
members of the local organ society. Dad had taught himself to play through sheer
dogged perseverance so that he and mum could make music together. They
rediscovered their love of ballroom dancing and latterly, took up oil and then
portrait painting in pastels. Dad gained a lot of pleasure from this and they
set up their own studio in the old carport.
He
was also a dab hand at the Geelong Advertiser crossword-not just satisfied with
completing it but noting the start and finish time. His goal was to do it under three
minutes.
To
have lived to 92 and to have had good health for most of that time was no small
achievement. We sometimes think he believed he would live forever, as he
overcame every physical obstacle put in front of him - except the last. He was
dogged in his wish to get better and was unwilling to accept that he may not
recover this time. In the last few weeks his failing health upset him
dreadfully, but he was comforted knowing that Lorraine was nearby. He was a man who had always been in control
of his life and it was hard for him to accept help, but Lynda willingly stepped
up to help him with his affairs.
We still marvel at what Dad achieved in his life time – and what he
witnessed. He lived for over nine decades in an era that ranged from Burt
Hinkler flying over Leopold school in a biplane and living through the great
depression - to space travel and personal computers.
He
had an appreciation of technology: embracing computers well before they became
popular with the rest of the world. In fact he insisted on having the internet
connected at the nursing home before he would agree to go. He still had too
much work to do, you see…
He
achieved much in his time. He came from hard working Scottish and English
farming stock, his education finished when his family lost their farm but he found work and created a business that
earned a reputation for integrity and fair dealing. He gave back to the
community through Rotary International, was president of the Retail Traders
Association of Geelong and founding president of the Gem and Mineral Club.
He served his country bravely during wartime and twice narrowly
escaped death. Dad survived to marry and have a family. He gave
us what he valued most: opportunities for a quality education, a strong moral
compass and a secure home.
Other
than Lorraine and his girls, his great love was music and the arts. Orchestral music, opera and ballet all
brought him great joy. It was hardly surprising he married the girl from the
music store. It must have been one of his greatest disappointments that his
worsening hearing robbed him of enjoying live musical performances in his latter
years.
Finally
we think he would like to be remembered as a fair man, one who fought hard to
stay with his wife of 64 years. Lorraine
was with him right to the end. He was a proud father of his three daughters and
all their accomplishments and an even prouder grandfather of his five adult
grandchildren.
We will all miss him: his tried and true jokes and his
depression-era sensibilities about "waste not want not.’’ But we are glad that
he is no longer in pain and I believe that he is now with our sister Tracy and
we would like to think that he can hear us just fine now…
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