I remember it so clearly.. the phone rang and awoke me from a troubled sleep.
I looked at the bedside alarm clock... 4:15 AM.
"Hello, this is Mark."
"Mr Taylor, it's the Royal Brisbane Hospital here. I am sorry to advise you that your father passed away at 4:00 AM this morning!"
I knew it was coming, but it still hit hard.
"Please leave dad where he is.. I want to come and say good bye. I will be there in 15 minutes".
I rang my mother and sister in law Pam answered the phone.
"He's gone Pam."
She said she would bundle mother up to the hospital .
Quickly I dressed and drove the Toyota the short distance from Alderley to the hospital. Parked in the first spot I found and headed up in the lift. Friend from childhood Dr Ken Brand had told me that when this moment came, I should go and see him and say good bye.
The ward sister met me on the verandah.... she asked if I was OK and I sort of mumbled yes. My then wife elected to wait it outside, fair enough.
I went into the ward and saw his bed surrounded by curtains. I gently opened them and stood next to my father in his death bed. They had combed his hair straight back, the way he never wore it. And both of his arms were under the sheets. The things I still remember, I stroked his head and he was still warm. I said my good byes and thanked him for being a great father. Again I apologised for being a crappy son during my teenage years... yes I really was that bad.
Strangely I didn't cry. (Little did I know that would wait for his funeral!)
Out onto the verandah I walked as my mother walked in. She was very teary. She cried by my father's side and apologised for not being with him when he passed.
So 6 AM finds me back at Armagh St, the family home. I stood at the top of the back stairs watching the day dawning and felt like a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Dad's suffering was over. And did he suffer that last week.. especially the night before when I sat by his side holding his hand and talking to him. Pam brought me a cup of tea and I can still taste that sweet white tea even today.
The next 40 years seem to have flown by.. until today when I went to the cemetery to "visit dad" on the 40th anniversary of his death.
So many questions never answered, so much advice on life that I could never get from my father.
Recently I had this discussion with good friend Tim Roberston who lost his dad at 22 and he made similar comments. My father's business acumen was legendary and I really could have done with his mentoring during my early years in business.
My father lived a great life. A WW1 survivor (he went to war at 16) he also beat a post op infection that nearly killed him in 1944. There are buildings in Brisbane that still stand today thanks to his incredible vision and optimism to convince his group to build them for a growing city.
A charter member of Brisbane West Rotary he got a new lease on life at 67 as he helped to build that club. At his funeral it was said that he was granted a long life in which to live his Christian philosophy of service before self.
And that was Ron Taylor to a T. Always service before self.
 |
| RRBT at his desk in the Buffalo Lodge. |
On my 21st birthday he told me that success in life can be achieved by understanding these 4 things:
1. Nothing of any value is ever achieved without some sacrifice.
2. Life isn't fair, get used to it.
3. Take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way.
4. Service before self. Always!
 |
| Great to see you again dad. |
The funeral was a celebration of his life, yet very sad as well.
I am so sad that Debra didn't get to meet dad, he was always keen to see women to do more than be housewives. To that end he set my mother up in her own business, Commercial Supplies Unlimited.
He would have thought the world of Debra and how she takes care of women who have been through the anguish of breast cancer.
Perhaps he is looking down.....
No comments:
Post a Comment