Leon Wilson Eulogy

On behalf of my family, I would like to begin by thanking everyone that is here today, thank you for travelling to be here, your presence is comforting at this sad time.  Although dad struggled with his health for the last 2 years, for 77 years of his life he was a very fit and healthy man so today we celebrate his full life.

Dad was a man of few words, but action always speaks louder than words. He would always say “if a jobs worth doing its worth doing well” He was passionate, protective and loyal to his family, his friends, the local community, and to the Collingwood F.C,  he was strong, determined, hardworking, genuine, funny, time was never an issue, and he was very grounded in his ways.

Dad was born in Birchip on the 4th of September 1944, he lived at 6 Sherwood st with his family, his mum and dad Lila and Maurice, and his 6 siblings Margaret, Jimmy, Val, Marlene, Pat and Butch.  He grew up with the values of honesty, love, loyalty, respect, authority, responsibility, humor, community, and a strong work ethic.

Dad attended Birchip school and became a great friend to many, he would prefer to hang out with his friends riding billy carts and playing sport than attending to his schoolbooks.  Sometimes he would hide the family cow and tell his mum that the cow had gone missing so he would then have to go find it and miss out on school. He ended up leaving school at 14. Max Connelly was one of dads best friends and together they were double trouble, getting up to lots of mischief. They were both at a function at the local hall, both him and Max were outside, singing Blackboard of my heart, un be known to them, the music inside had finished and quite a few people were outside listening to them and in the end they both received a standing ovation.  Dad absolutely love that song and we would quite often hear him sing it around the house.  Max was dad’s best man at his wedding.

 The name Scobie came from the Australian jockey Scobie Breasley as a young boy and teenager dad always wore a jockey cap.

After his school years he followed in his Dads and older brother Jimmy’s footsteps of truck driving, it was in his blood, he just loved to drive. Earlier on he started carting sheep and went into sand and soil and wheat/barley at harvest time. If he wasn’t home or at the pub you would always find him tinkering around at “the shed” corner of Abbot st and Birchip/Wyche rd. Dad owned his own business, Leon Wilson transport.  He would proudly wear his work jumper and shirts with his name, and I’m sure there are many here who owned a Leon Wilson Transport stubbie holder or pen. He worked so hard and some days he would work 12-14 hours.  A list of trucks he had over his working life were Volvo, Acco 1800, Mercedes Benz, S line, International C 1800, Kenworths, he owned 2 loaders a 920 CAT and then a 930 CAT which he still has.  Some men he worked with and became lifelong friends were, Garry Quirk, Bill and Greg Rymer, Dean Woods, Michael Reeves and his sons Nathan and Brendan Reeves, he also worked for Boral at Charlton and local farmers at harvest time and spreading of gypsum. A story from Quirky was, they were driving home from Hopetoun from carting gypsum and Quirky called dad on the UHF radio saying can you smell smoke Scobe? Dad replies no can’t smell any smoke.  Further down the road dad noticed flames coming out from the trailer, he pulled over and then Gary pulled up.  Dad was trying to extinguish the flames with sand and Gary said don’t you have a fire extinguisher, he replied no (please note*at this time dad was captain of the fire brigade) so Gary grabbed his and put the fire out. Dad’s last job was with Quirky and Dean Woods carting from Barbarys in Woomelang in 2021.

        Dad met mum at a dance at the Birchip Hall, she was from the city and came up to Birchip to work as a nurse. They dated for about a year and on March 4th 1967 they married at Box Hill. They bought a house at 6 Lockwood st and have made it their home for 57 years.  In the beginning of their marriage they were surrounded by great neighbours, John and Pauline O’Connor, Les and Rita Coffey, Gavin Douglas and Bill and Joan Nunn. Mum and dad started their family in 1969 with the birth of their son John and 2 daughters to follow, Belinda and Tanya.  One day when mum was at work, Dad ran over to Joan in a panic and said Joan I can’t find John anywhere, so they looked everywhere, worried of where he had gone, eventually they found him, he was sound asleep on the couch.

The Nunns became lifelong family friends, spending many Christmas teas with each other.  Dad always left those nights with a belly filled with food, beer and laughter.  Joan would crank up the music and Bill would offer another beer, and another and another, we would either be graced by mum’s version of 3 blind mice or dads little white bull dance, we were always in stitches of laughter.

In 1976, dad was at the pub and drove home, not realising the local cop Duncan had followed dad home.  Duncan arrested Dad for drink driving, (no breathalysers back then) took him up to the police station and locked him up for the night. Mum was not aware of what had happened, Mick Ryan rang mum to let her know and Mick wanted to go up to the police station but Duncan said if you come up here I will lock you up to. So dad lost his license for 12 months and therefore mum went and got her truck license, (that’s another story) In 1980 Slim Dusty released his famous song Drink with Duncan, so dad made it his theme song.

He loved getting away on family holidays over summer, he loved the sun and water we have many fond memories of either camping along the river, at Green Lake, or somewhere near the beach, Portarlington, Robe or Adelaide. One year we were on holidays at Adelaide and were all walking out on the sandbar not realising the tide was coming in.  We all ended up swimming back to shore with all our beach towels, clothes, and esky, lucky we were all strong swimmers otherwise we may have made the 6 o’clock news.

Dogs were a big part of dads life, he always had a little foxie or a jack Russell by his side.  One of his favourites, Sam is buried at his shed, you can see the big rock as you drive past with his writing of Sam RIP.  His current dog Jack was with him till the end.

Dad involved himself within the community through sport, playing for Birchip F.C and Watchem F.C, Birchip tennis club, was president of the Birchip swimming club, but his greatest achievement was joining the local fire brigade in 1963 when he was 19. He became 1st Lieutenant in 1978, was given the honour of captain in 1988, working alongside Noel Fletcher, he earned his 25 year service and the National medal for service in 1992. He loved the mateships the fire brigade gave to him over the years.  We thank the fire brigade today for their involvement in farewelling dad.

Dads shed was his sanctuary, his mancave, every Sunday he would have his mates around for a few cold beers, and a yarn,  once again lifelong friends, Mick Brody Dadda Crosbie, Slim Rymer and Bob Lockwood.  In the last few years of his life, Mick Leersen’s shed was the place to be every Friday night at 5pm, without fail he would be there, along with Alan Litt and Brian Hogan.

On Oct 15th 2003 Mum and Dads first grandchild was born at the Birchip Hospital, Cormacc, 8 more grandkids were to follow, 6 boys and 3 girls, Maggie, Hannah and Joe, Angus Logan and Eamon and Ella and Riley. Dad loved the birthday parties and Christmas time with all the kids together, he enjoyed cooking them all a sausage on the BBQ, but he would often have to sneak off to the shed for some timeout.

At the end of Dads life he had great neighbours, Di and Roger Lehmann and Stan and Marlene Fraser, they would always offer to help out when dad could no longer manage the garden.  And Stan, I know dad was grateful for your visits and chats. Mum and dad always attracted good neighbours, a reflection of their characters, Love thy neighbour as thyself.

Over 57 years of dad’s life he has had an incredible woman by his side, mum we just want to thank you for all you have done for dad and especially over these last 1 to 2 years.  Your love, commitment, advocacy of his care and your tirelessness to support dad at home is proof of the love you have for him, even though it wasn’t easy.  We know he left this world with a full and grateful heart because of what you did for him. 

Rest in peace Dad.