14/11/1922 - 15/08/2009

At his home, at the age of 87,

John Doe, beloved husband of the late Mary Doe (nee Adams

He will be profoundly missed by his children:

Fred (& wife, Sylvia),

Norma (& husband, Allan Jones),

Robert (& wife, Linda);

his grandchildren:

Isabelle & Karen;

great-grandchildren:

Naomi & Kelia;

John was born in Smithville in 1922.

His father, Stan Doe had just returned from the First War and had married his mother, Louise Jones in early 1920. The newly weds moved to Testville so that Stan could complete his apprenticeship as a carpenter, and it was here that John, their eldest son was born.

Despite the Depression and the outbreak of Word War II, John always spoke of happy times during his primary schooling at Testville State, and later at St Aloyisius's High where he completed Leaving in 1939.

Like so many young men of his generation, he went straight from school to the AIF and saw action in Borneo and Papua New Guinea. But also like so many of those men his age, he never liked to speak of the war with his family. But, the friendships he formed during those years were to be central for the rest of his life. He never missed an Anzac day march while his health allowed him to go.

He met our mother, Mary at a dance while home on leave in 1944. He was introduced to her by his friend and best man, Archie Withers who served with him in Borneo. Our parents married soon after John returned and was de-mobbed on 18 January 1946. They settled in Testville and opened a small grocery store there which they ran until Mum's untimely death in 1979.

Dad was a great story teller: and all the grandchildren have been at the receiving end of his own special variety of practical jokes. They will miss him terribly, as we all will. His health had been good until about a year before he died when injuries he had nursed since the war got the better of him and he was confined largely to the family home. Even through this time, he was able to focus on others when they came to see him rather than on his own problems.

The family are extremely grateful to Dr Tom White and the nurses from the Testville Palliative Care Service who made it possible for him to stay at home through his final days.

We'll miss you, Dad and hope our lives can be as unselfish as yours!

We do not wish you joy without sorrow

Nor endless day without the healing dark,

Nor brilliant sun without the restful shadow,

Nor tides that never turn against your bark.

We wish you love, and strength, and faith, and wisdom,

Goods, gold enough to help some needy one,

We wish you songs, but also blessed silence,

And God's sweet peace when every day is done.

-- Dorothy Nell McDonald