A tribute to my father, Brian Convy
5th November 1946 – 16 May 2011
(the celebrants reading of his eulogy)
Brian was born on the 5th of November, 1946, in Carlton, to Cyril and Helen, although Richmond is where Brian grew up and shared his childhood with his sister Pauline and his brother Kevin. They made very good, strong bonds when they were children, bonds that really did last a lifetime, in fact, they all ended up living not too far from each other, at Venus Bay and Tarwin Lower, so they saw each other pretty much every week.
Brian attended kindergarten at Cubitt Street Richmond and then Brighton Street Primary School, followed by Richmond Tech. While at tech he formed a rock band called the Falcons, he was the singer and guitarist in the band, which performed at the school. A tradition now taken up by his grandson James.
When Brian was about 10, he and his younger brother Kevin, were in a banjo club which they attended every Saturday morning, that’s where his love of music began.
As a child Brian wanted to learn ice skating so the family all went to St. Moritz Ice Rink in St. Kilda on a Saturday afternoon, he even taught his mother to skate, and they were great times. Brian’s first job was as an apprentice motor mechanic at Coffey ford in South Melbourne where he completed his apprenticeship, his mother would make him a pile of sandwiches for his lunch, but they would usually all be eaten by morning tea, so that he had to buy his lunch anyway. It became a bit of a running joke at home. Brian loved his football and especially the Richmond Football club, when he was a teenager the whole family used to go to Punt Road, to watch them play – that was a tradition that continued for some time with his own children.
Brian got married at the age of 19.
Brian married Pat in 1965, they met at the youth club in 1962, and they spent many good years together, and even became friends again sometime after the marriage ended, of course out of the marriage came the boys that he loved so dearly, Stephen, Gary and Craig. There’s no doubt that Brian loved his sons, and was proud of them and their achievements, he may not have been the kind of man that openly talked about those feelings, but they were there deep and strong and he showed his love, by working hard – those early years saw the family living first in Richmond and then they bought the house in Bayswater and stayed there after the marriage ended.
He had his business of course in Dandenong for a long time, Brian was a motor mechanic by trade – he did his apprenticeship with Coffey Ford, the learnt to specialise in Automatic Transmissions with John McGrath motors, and he learnt his trade very well, Brian worked with Jerry Saunders at Gearmatics for several years and then he and his mate Paul started up a business called B & P Automatics in Dandenong – and they had that for quite awhile as well.
Brian’s life really did revolve around the family, when his first marriage ended, he did everything that he could for the boys. Brian never really had much in the way of luxuries, money was always a bit tight, what he had he spent, he worked hard and he played hard – he was always kind and caring and he was always helping others – that’s why he made a lot of friends over the years, because he talked to everyone and he listened to what you had to say and I do mean he really listened, what’s more he accepted everyone as they were, so it didn’t matter what age you were, or where you had come from, or who you were, he took you as he found you and he looked for the good in everyone.
Brian made friends in the neighbourhoods where he lived and at work, and also down at Venus Bay where he and Alice went to live in 1999- they kind of retired although Brian was not the kind of man that could sit around doing nothing, he liked being active, so he and Alice started off a little business cleaning homes in the area – holiday houses and the like and it was fantastic, they got the contract working for PBE real estate- and they had heaps of places and they loved what they did, which is really quite funny when you consider that Brian was not the kind of man that really particularly liked housekeeping at home, but with the business he was a dab hand at it – and he and Alice worked hard, they also played hard together, that was until Alice got sick, and that was tough, naturally Brian took good care of her,he loved her very much and he missed her such a lot after she’d gone – life was difficult for him, but then he met Silvie, about 2 years ago – it was a set up, they met through his sister in law, and they hit it off right away, and they had a great time together, every week Silvie would head down to Venus Bay and spend the weekend there, Brian was happy again.
Venus bay and the community down there loved Brian; here is a tribute from one of them.
Adored Brian,
You were so proud and so was I to be a member of the community Emergencies Rescue Team, you started your first day of volunteering on the 5 of January, this year and looked fabulous in your green uniform. You have special good friends in your team, I remember very supportive Anne and Jenny, Richard and Julie the most. – also Tuesday nights were always a highlight, social bowling in Tarwin Lower, you looked forward to that always cheerful, smiling with everybody. Hotdogs, sausages, or hamburgers made your day with a couple of cans of Bourbon. “the Barefooters” (that’s the name of the bowling team down there that Brian was a member of) – you never see me in a white uniform bowling, that’s for old people – you loved social bowls.Kind caring, helpful, always giving a helping hand to someone.
One minute Brian was busy and laughing and going about his work, and then in the wink of an eye he was gone – and our lives are greatly diminished for the loss.
Nicholas, Poppy & Alexander
