Adventurous teacher who rose to great heights

JOHN DAMIAN TAYLOR

TEACHER, CLIMBER, PILOT, FIREFIGHTER

23-7-1953 – 10-8-2005

By PETER CAMPBELL. Published in The Age, 1 December 2005

JOHN Taylor, a teacher and a natural leader who took on myriad challenges – from route-finding through a whiteout in deadly crevasses on a glacier to flying to remote areas across Australia, fighting fires and building a mud brick house – has died in Alexandra of a short battle with cancer. He was 52.

Taylor, who came to Australia from England with his family when he was seven, embraced his new national identity and loved Australia’s rugged challenges.

He lived in Eltham in the 1960's and attended Our Lady Help of Christians primary school. He was drawn to outdoor activities and joined the 2nd Eltham Sea scouts and took part in their camping and water activities.

Taylor’s life was focussed on the outdoors. He was a committed and capable rock climber, bushwalker and mountaineer who introduced many people to these activities. In turn, they trusted him with their lives; his natural enthusiasm for the challenge of the outdoors was infectious.

For five alpine seasons he climbed in New Zealand, scaling among others Mt Aspiring, Malte Brun, Mt Sefton and Mt Avalanche. In Europe, he climbed Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and Monta Rosa. In Switzerland’s Bernese alps he climbed the Fiescherhorn, the Finsteraarhorn, the Monch and the Jungfrau in the space of four days. Taylor’s exceptional climbing ability and motivation, coupled with his reliability and focus on safety made him a much sought after climbing partner.

After reaching the summit of the Matterhorn, his descent was halted for a rescue below. Overtaken by darkness, he spent the coldest and longest night of his life tied on a ledge looking down at the glittering lights of Zermatt in the valley far below – thinking he would perish. Great strength of character and toughness saw him greet the next sunrise and continue down.

Many of John’s companions over the years appreciated his camaraderie and ability to always see the humorous side of situations, even when things looked grim. His cheery side shone through in the face of adversity and lifted spirits. He developed an incredible toughness; he was the one to help you out of a crisis.

After graduating with honours in agricultural science at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, John married Helen Godfrey in 1983. He experienced a challenge to his sometimes gruff exterior with the arrival of his two daughters Emma and Laura, of whom he was very proud.

Living near Alexandra, John impressed the locals with his care of the land, stock selection, farming and building his substantial mud-brick house with Helen. When his steers topped the market the word “hobby” disappeared from his farm, which made him very proud.

Taylor joined the Acheron Fire Brigade in 1986 and then broadened his knowledge of firefighting by joining the Alexandra Urban Brigade. He became a popular and inspiring captain and leader at Acheron: not afraid to initiate new ideas, he excelled at training and in encouraging members to join and attend, then tutor them for management roles.

His motivation, patience and persistence earned him great respect. His leadership and determination was instrumental in maintaining the Brigade at Acheron when numbers where down and the CFA was considering closing it down.

Taylor not only fought fires around the district but major campaign fires in New South Wales, the Strathbogie Ranges and the Northeast fires in 2003. But his main priority was always to the Acheron Brigade and the local community.

In later years, Taylor developed a keen interest in flying. Not satisfied with local flying he obtained a commercial licence and embarked on numerous Australia-wide safaris. He flew to Birdsville via Bundaberg, across the Tanami desert to the Kimberley, and across the Simpson Desert to Alice Springs. He flew over Lake Ayer, around Ayers Rock, the Olgas, the Bungle Bungles, the Buccaneer Archipelago, Prince Regent Gorge, and up Cape York to Thursday Island.

Taylor was also a great ambassador for Australia. While on teaching exchange for a year in Canada he presented slideshows and talks about Australia and struck up many friendships with his Canadian colleagues and flying friends.

Taylor displayed great commitment to his teaching career, his colleagues and his students. With great perseverance and dedication he established and administered the computer network and computing education at Alexandra High School. He enjoyed playing games of cat and mouse on computer security with the students.

His favourite teaching method was to set his students a challenge, which they always rose to. He pioneered and established an introduction to aviation subject for students to experience and learn about flying at a nearby airstrip.

Taylor had the ability to draw the best out of people. He changed many people’s lives for the better with his example of living his dreams and constantly striving for excellence.

His funeral was attended by his family, many students and staff from his school, many friends, and the Acheron and Alexandra Fire brigades who provided a guard of honour.

He is survived by his wife Helen and their daughters Emma and Laura, his parents Irene and Aelred, and his three brothers and five sisters from across Australia.

Peter Campbell was a friend and climbing partner of John Taylor

John Damian Taylor, my brother

A eulogy from Sue Hughes at John Taylor's funeral.

My name Is Sue. I am John's second sister. The rite of delivering the eulogy has fallen upon me. There were no volunteers. In case it helps any of you in the future, make sure you volunteer for the committee that decides who will speak. That way you can nominate someone else. Helen said I was chosen because I wouldn't waffle and I have been allocated 7 minutes. We will see.

John turned 52 a few weeks ago. On behalf on John, his wife Helen, his children Emma and Laura, his immediate family, extended family and friends, I would like to say that we have all been cheated of the life of a very special person. I suspect he was not aware of how special he was.

A family retrospective of John is difficult to write without sounding like it was written by a committee. Each one of us has a unique experience of John as son, brother, husband, father, friend or colleague. And as today unfolds I hope those memories bind us together as we celebrate his life.

He was born 23" July 1953. He was the eldest of 9 children of Irene and Aelred and leader of the pack, when as a family of 4 kids we emigrated as $10 Poms to Australia arriving in 1960.

People forget that as children of migrants, even English ones, there are many adjustments and challenges to living in a new country. On the one hand, there is the family culture and expectation and on the other the embracing of all things new and relinquishing the old. For John there is no doubt that he embraced Australia as his national identity and loved its rugged challenges.

I would like to refer all of you to his memorial website where there many extra details from family and friends that cannot be included in this eulogy.

We lived in Eltham in the 60's when it was really in the sticks. He attended Our Lady Help of Christian's primary school where their shelter shed doubled as the home of the 2"d Eltham Sea scouts. He was drawn to the outdoor activities that scouting promoted and especially the sea scouts as their camps were always by water and Involved both camping and water activities.... Boating, sailing or canoeing.

Out side of home his natural leadership qualities were emerging. At a very early age he attracted the local kids like the pied piper and was the clear leader of the tricycle gang. I myself was not included as I only had a scooter. He had natural leadership qualities in all fields of his adult life and these areas will be addressed by others.

At home, during the early years he was just the big brother......But oh to be included in those secret activities ...playing down by the railway tracks (sorry M&D) lifting up pieces of corrugated iron to see if there was tiger snake underneath, catching it, killing it and skinning it on the front verandah....early biology lessons I think. Following that came ferrets, rabbiting, guns, chooks and pigeons,-- not necessarily in that order.

On his way home from school he was aloof from the girls -sisters and others, and made it clear that there was secret men's business to be conducted in both the local tip (which was a short cut home) and in the pine forest, an incredibly quiet place with a small lake, bull rushes and all. (A great forum for wrestling matches and target practice for sling shots)

During this early time he was always called by his second name Damian. Can you believe he was an altar boy too, but not for long. Secondary schooling was at Marcellin College Bulleen in the days when Jack Hoystead was renowned for giving the cuts, corporal punishment being common place. He enjoyed sports and continued to play hockey for the old boys. He didn't particularly like school but was, I believe, a hardworking student..jn our opinion a late bloomer who achieved greater things after he left school. So for all you students remember that the VCE is only a score it is not an indication of who you are or what you are capable of in the world.

As he matured and become more assertive he decided that Damian was not the best name for him (a bit too woosy) and changed to John, But there are other Johns, so to us he became JD, just as Helen is referred to as The Red One or simply red Helen.

After school came an Honours degree in Agricultural science, whilst enjoying the outdoor pursuits that the Uni provided. And others here today will talk in detail of these as well as his passion for flying.

Somewhere along the way developed an incredible toughness, he was just the man you wanted in a crisis. However to be tough also made him more reticent to be open and vulnerable and harder for him express his positive emotions.

Superficially he was a bit of a grump, but my God he could be passionate and certainly able to say the difficult things without tempering his words in case they offended the sensibilities of others.... If he thought your arse looked big in those pants he told you so... but maybe this was saved for family.

This gruff exterior was to be soon tempered by marrying Helen in1983, although she soon realised that words were not his strong point. With the arrival of his two daughters Emma and Laura over the next few years he was once again to experience a challenge to this gruff exterior. Lately, he was very proud of Emma for attempting and achieving so successfully on the Einstein factor. Likewise he was proud of Laura for her commitment and success with her swimming.

There are a few personal anecdotes that Helen would like to share with you - in response to his diagnosis he told Heien that he loved her. She said that saying he loved her twice in 20 years wasn't bad going. Also, he never complemented her on her good looks in the early days but on the other hand he never made mention of her aging either. She thought that he was being pretty consistent and solid as a rock. Being a man of few words he was unlikely ever to declare undying love for Helen but could point to the building of their house as a daily reminder of his devotion. Which bring us to the house....

Rose Hill, as it is known, was a dream of both John and Helen. They lived in Alex from 1984, bought the land in 85, and started building in 88. Helen admits to being supremely naive regarding building anything but John being supremely confident. The plan was for the first part of the house to be completed by the time that Emma was born and they were not far off those plans moving in when Emma was 6 weeks old in 1989.

As you all know it is a mud brick house and everyone of those bricks was hand made. Of the 5500 bricks, the first half were made by John and Helen and the second half were made by family and friends. Is it any wonder that he felt very connected to the earth? He had a tremendous capacity for hard work and expected the same from others. His skills included diagnosing heat stroke in one of his brothers during a working bee with the recommended treatment being to go and lie in the dam for a while. Did the trick.

There are a few misadventures that need to be noted about his hobbies and early skills. Notably the drill in the foot incident, the broken glass with lacerated foot incident and the concussion from the canoe falling on his head in the aforementioned shelter shed.

His major crime against Occupational Health and Safety however was in his house construction. I am reliably informed that grooves needed to be cut at the top of the upright posts 4.5m from the ground. To do this he assembled some scaffolding onto which he placed a science desk courtesy of Alex HS. Still needing further elevation he added to this a 44 gallon drum. Now at perfect height he climbed atop and revved up the chain saw. Being successful the first time he repeated this 3 more times....

Alex is no different from any other country town where outsiders are initially regarded with suspicion, hobby farming being frowned on as a means to a tax deduction. John impressed the locals with his care of the land, stock selection, farming and construction skills and in the course of time his steers topped the market and the word hobby disappeared from farming. Of that he was very proud.

When he became sick he was pretty disappointed in - his body letting him down. He kept saying "look at my scrawny legs" because as you know he had great legs, a lovely bum and soft skin. In response to the news about his imminent death friends were heard to remark that it is bloody tragic. Who could disagree with that? It is indeed difficult to see anything redeeming about John's awful suffering and death. However we believe that there is at least one thing we can take from this tragedy.

There was a childlike simplicity about John, which was hard not to like. About a week before he died, after a constant stream of visitors to the Alex hospital and the assurance from Helen that his funeral was going to be huge, he made a remark that typified that childlike simplicity. He said "I didn't know so many people cared".

John had drawn to himself so much love from us all that he was overwhelmed by it, hence that simple remark, 'I didn't know that so many people cared'. It seems that often it takes that kind of tragic circumstance to draw that love from us. If there is anything redeeming in his death, it is this. If John's suffering and death can draw from us all this love and compassion for each other, then maybe it will not have been a complete and meaningless bloody tragedy.

John Damian Taylor Ex Captain – Acheron RFB

A eulogy from Bob Potts, Country Fire Authority Regional Operations Manager at John Taylor's funeral.

I wish to thank Group Officer Peter Rice and other members of the Acheron Fire Brigade for their assistance in compiling the information for this eulogy.

Ex Captain John Damian Taylor joined the Acheron Fire Brigade on the 14th November 1986 soon after he and his family moved to the area.

If John took on a job he always did it well – after 5 months in the brigade he decided he needed to broaden his knowledge of firefighting and went and joined Alexandra Urban Brigade for a period of about 7 months. This provided him with the knowledge and experience to further enhance his position within the Acheron brigade.

By 1990 John was recognised by his peers as a potential leader of the brigade and was elected to the management team as Apparatus Officer.

This was the start of a succession of roles and responsibilities that John undertook over the last 15 years within the Acheron Brigade;

Apparatus Officer 1990 - 1992

1st Lieutenant 1992 - 1995

Secretary 1992 - 1995

Captain 1995 - 1999

2nd Lieutenant 2001 - 2002

Captain 2002 - 2004 (resigned)

John’s leadership and determination was instrumental in maintaining a Brigade at Acheron around 1995 and 2002 as the brigade was down in numbers and the Authority was considering closing down the brigade. John had a great ability to encourage new members to join and then tutor them for management roles in the brigade.

John was always a popular and inspiring leader at Acheron and was not afraid to initiate new ideas. Training was always an arduous task but he excelled in encouraging members to attend. I guess his background as a teacher paid dividends in this area. His motivation, patience and persistence earned him the respect of all.

As a leader John knew that he had to inspire by example and as such attended all the courses necessary to enable him to carry out his role as a volunteer firefighter;

• Off Road & On Road Driver Training (Puckapunyal)

• Minimum Skills Wildfire

• Crew Leadership Course

• Incident Management

John was also a member of the Group Training Committee involving himself in organising and conducting training sessions for other brigades at Group exercises. This he did well and made training a pleasant task for all.

John was one of the first volunteers in the Region to attend and successfully complete a Strike Team Leaders course. This qualified him to lead a strike team of 5 tankers and 28 firefighters to fires anywhere in the State. This was the competence of the man we all knew.

His competence on the fire ground was excellent and made himself available to fight fires anywhere. These included the major campaign fires in NSW, Strathbogie Ranges, the Northeast fires in 2003 and many other fires in and around the district.

Attempts were often made by Group Officer Peter Rice and his management team to involve John in Fire Command and Control at Group level, as he was well suited for this role. Although he did assist at times, even last summer during his illness, John always felt that his main priority was to the Acheron Brigade and community.

When discussing John’s history with Peter Rice he reminded me of the time John was overseas on teacher exchange duties and still knew what was going on in the brigade and what was happening with regard to fires around the district. He kept abreast of everything with email and the internet.

John was also a qualified commercial pilot and often did part time work for the DSE. This work involved fire spotting and reconnaissance based out of Traralgon. There was certainly more to John than we all knew.

He was not a man to brag about his talents or attributes, he got on with the job, loved what he was doing, and was committed to his community. When meeting and talking with John you always respected his thoughts and ideas as you knew he had always thought hard and long before putting them to you, and in most cases he was right. More importantly you needed to have your own facts right as he would certainly take you to task if you were wrong. I have had that privilege at many a meeting.

When John’s time came to resign as Captain due to his illness, his phone call to Group Officer Peter Rice was one of regret. I guess he thought he was letting the brigade and Group down but his health and remaining time with his family was a higher priority.

The Country Fire Authority, the community of Acheron and the Acheron Fire Brigade are certainly privileged for knowing and working with John Damian Taylor.

Our condolences go out to Helen, Emma and Laura, and we thank you for supporting John in his role as a firefighter and leader of the Acheron Fire Brigade.

A glimpse of John Taylor

A eulogy from Louise Hogan at John Taylor's funeral.

We feel very privileged today to speak about our friend John, but also as representatives of past and present staff and students of Alexandra Secondary College. The other day when Helen Anderson and I went to visit John in hospital, he told us that he was worried that people would be upset today talking about him and he didn’t want that, and that they would feel as if they had to say nice things about him when all he was really was, was a “grumpy old bastard”. So we thought the best way to get around this was to tell some stories that are vintage John, and some stories that he wanted to be told (and some that he didn’t).

I first met John in 1985 when I enrolled in a short computer course at the secondary college at night. It was 10 weeks long, 1 night per week. I knew absolutely nothing about computers and so asked endless questions. At Week 9 John had had enough and he asked me “Why do you keeping asking the same bloody stupid questions week after week ?” I said, “Because I am bloody stupid at this and I don’t want to be.” It must have been the right response because he just sat down with me and taught me what I wanted to know. I got home sometime after midnight.

Over the past few days, when we have been talking about John, it seems everyone has a similar story to tell about his patience with those of us who just take a bit longer for things to sink in or who needed to have something fixed. He would growl and grumble, but he always found time.

And then about 6 months later, in early 1986, our paths crossed again. John, his mate Peter Lewis and I all began a Deakin University Graduate Diploma of Computing course and we had to attend an introductory session at Shepparton. I made my own way there with my 3-week-old baby Kate – who incidentally John taught last year in Year 12 Information Management and Processing.

Now Kate is not a ‘computer girl’ by any stretch of the imagination, and she kept telling me how hopeless she was as the subject. So about this time last year, I asked him how she was going with the subject. He said OK, and that she was pretty smart and worked hard, but asked lots of stupid bloody questions, but he thought that was probably genetic !

Anyway, back to 1986 and Shepparton. It was stinking hot, and after trying unsuccessfully to settle down this fretful baby, I arrived at the introductory computer session. I struggled in the door with a baby capsule in one arm, a nappy bag under the other one, a box of disks and course materials jammed all over the place. I was hot, bothered and stressed – and then I spotted John.

He rolled his eyes at the sight of me and waited until I got settled into a chair, and then with that wicked grin, leaned over and whispered to me that I was in the wrong room because the nursing mother’s meeting was in the next room, knowing full well that I was doing the course just like him. I knew then that this was the beginning of a great friendship because anyone who could make me laugh when I was in such a state was destined to be a good mate – and he was.

John told me over his last few days how proud he was of his girls – Helen, Emma and Laura – and he spoke often of the wonderful life he had had with his extended family and friends – this sense of family was most important to him. He worried about how they would cope without him, and he didn’t want them to be sad. He admired their ‘resilience’ (as he called it) in the face of this terrible ordeal, and yet he didn’t realise that it was his courage in facing his illness that gave them this inner strength.

He lamented the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to do all the things he planned to do when he hit the magic 54 years and 11 months, even though he packed more into his life than most of us have or will. So I guess his message to us all – because he would want us to all learn from this experience – is to never take your eye off life nor neglect your health, be the person you want to be, don’t be a passenger in life, and cherish and use the opportunities that life offers.

John didn’t want to die; he wanted to stay here with us all. He told me this so many times. But if he was here today, just sitting over there with Helen and the girls, he would be shaking his head at me, telling me to ‘cut out the crap’ and get on with it.

I think over the last few weeks, it finally started to dawn on John just how much he meant to us all, and he found this completely overwhelming – such was the humbleness of the man. John has left footprints on this earth, on many lives and hearts, and we will miss him more than he could have possibly imagined.

Remembering John Taylor

A eulogy from Peter Campbell at John Taylor's funeral.

It is a great honour and a privilege for me to say some words about John on behalf of his university and outdoors friends.

Some opening words that describe John:

He was brave, strong, capable and compassionate. He was heroic.

He was reliable, thorough and dependable. He was like a rock.

He was thoughtful, considerate and caring.

He was intelligent, resourceful and respected.

He was trustworthy and honest, sometimes brutally so.

He was diligent, dedicated and meticulous

And he was gentle and loving.

For John there were no half measures; he approached and sought out life’s challenges with enthusiasm and vigour.

John was a role model and a mentor. He introduced me to rock climbing near here at the Jawbones. I was amazed to see him scale the blank-looking rock face with apparent ease leading the climb “on the pointy end of the rope” as he called it. I then started the climb and struggled to find any holds, but John had demonstrated that it could be done. With John’s gentle urging from above I struggled upwards.

Near the top “in extremis” I was about to place my knee on the rock when John stated firmly “no knees, that’s not allowed”. Once at the top he explained why – “knees don’t get you up, they just throw you off balance – so do it the right way – use your feet or you won’t succeed”.

John knew instinctively what the right way was, and if he didn’t know he found it out.

John’s passion and enthusiasm for the outdoors was infectious. He introduced many to caving, alpine climbing, rock climbing, ski touring and bushwalking. He was president of La Trobe University Mountaineering Club, leading many trips during his time at University. This was when I met him.

John was a natural leader that we looked up to. Throughout his life, John earned great respect for his great ability to do things well, whether it was route finding in a whiteout through deadly crevasses on a glacier, jumping off a bergshrund into the unknown, building a mud brick house, fighting a fire or running a computer network.

John set himself high standards and worked hard to achieve them. He dedicated his life to both teaching and learning. He was a harsh critic of himself, perhaps too much so at times.

John was a hard man of the mountains. I and many others trusted him with our lives. He is one of the best climbing partners I have ever had.

John climbed five alpine seasons in New Zealand, scaling among others Mt Aspiring, Malte Brun, Mt Sefton and Mt Avalanche.

Keiran Loughran was climbing with John and Paul Horne in New Zealand when they got stuck in a snow-storm at dusk on a steep snowy grass slope with no possibility of retreat and absolutely no anchors. Kieran was exhausted and almost hypothermic when Paul attempted a final traverse off the face. John was belaying on steps kicked in the snow, facing out from the slope with the rope running through his gloved hands. Several metres out, Paul plummeted when his steps collapsed. John let the rope slide through his hands braking gently, gradually bringing Paul’s swinging fall to a halt. Most people would have braked the rope too quickly and been pulled off the mountain.

In Keiran’s words, “John was a great friend and mentor to me when I was a young gormless country kid at university and for years after that. I could wish that his self-discipline had rubbed off on me but it would be sadly untrue.”

In Europe, John climbed Mont Blanc (Europe’s highest peak), the Matterhorn, the Strahlegghorn, the Wetterhorn, the Shrekhorn and Monta Rosa (Europe’s second highest peak). He climbed four of the five highest peaks in Switzerland’s Bernese alps - the Fiescherhorn, the Finsteraarhorn, the Monch and the Jungfrau in four days with his lifelong friend Geoff Keech.

John and Geoff had an epic experience on the Matterhorn. After reaching the summit, their descent down the Hoernlii ridge was halted for a rescue below them. Any rocks dislodged into the rotor of the rescue helicopter could bring it down. They were benighted and had to bivouac – which is an unscheduled night out. Geoff tucked into his elephant’s foot – a ½ size sleeping bag. John sat on the coiled rope with his down jacket zipped up tight. They spent the coldest and longest night of their lives tied on the ledge looking down at the glittering lights of Zermatt in the valley far below. Both thought they would perish. A storm or the cold might have killed them, but great strength of character and toughness saw them greet the next sunrise and continue down.

A quote from Geoff: “One feature of all our trips was John’s camaraderie and ability to always see the humorous side of situations, even when people were a bit stressed and things looked a bit grim. He had a cheery side that always shone through in the face of adversity and lifted people’s spirits.”

In later years, John developed a keen interest in flying. Not satisfied with just flying, obtaining a commercial licence and instructing, John embarked on numerous Australia-wide safaris. These were keenly anticipated and greatly enjoyed by those lucky enough to accompany him. I remember every one like it was yesterday.

We flew with him to Birdsville via Bundaberg, across the Tanami desert to the Kimberley, and across the Simpson desert to Alice Springs. He flew over Lake Ayer, around Ayers Rock, the Olgas, the Bungle Bungles, the Buccaneer Archipelago, Prince Regent Gorge, and up Cape York to Thursday Island.

John was meticulous in his planning and flying. We were in the safest of hands. His strict instructions were to bring only a toothbrush, a light sleeping bag and one change of clothes.

John had a wry sense of humour. On one occasion he emerged from a toilet in Birdsville – where the cistern was filled with hot bore-water – with a big grin on his face and said “watch out for the backlash, it’s dangerous”.

John’s quiet sense of humour was remarkable and resilient. On trips he would often say “let’s decant the supernatant” as a drink was poured from a billy. In Peter Mac after his last operation he said this again quietly to me with a smile as he poured himself an orange juice.

John was also a great ambassador for Australia. While on teaching exchange for a year in Canada he presented slideshows and talks about Australia and struck up many friendships with his Canadian colleagues and flying friends.

A quote from Ian Basson, president of the St Thomas flying club in Ontario:

“John was proficient enough as a pilot to fly as our inside right wingman at our annual Nov 11th fly past in honour of the war veterans. We always fly a missing man formation, which this year will have a little more significance as the missing man will be one of our own.”

John displayed great bravery and resolve when confronting his illness. His courage stayed with him to the end even when his great strength was gone. His distress was not for himself. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Helen, Emma & Laura. We all mourn their great loss. We offer them our support during this time of deepest sorrow, and for the future.

His family, friends, students, neighbours and colleagues will all miss him greatly. We will never forget him.

A quote from Peter Rice, Alexandra District CFA – “John made a huge contribution to the Acheron Fire Brigade, the Group in general and the community as a whole.”

Thanks are due to all who cared for John, and helped him during his illness. Everyone rallied around him. I know he was greatly surprised and comforted by the number of people who visited and the constant stream of support he and Helen received over the last several months.

John had the ability to draw the best out of people – this is something I think we should all strive to emulate.

To finish, a quote from Cliff Woodward, John’s brother in law – “If John's suffering and death can draw from us all greater love and compassion for each other, then it will not have been a meaningless tragedy.”

John led a fine and exemplary life, which has been sadly cut short. John changed many people’s lives for the better. We can marvel at his achievements and follow his example of living his dreams and constantly striving for excellence. We won’t forget you John. Goodbye, and rest in peace.

John Taylor's funeral, Tuesday 16 August 2005

John Taylor's funeral will be held on Tuesday 16 August 2005.

Details are:

10:30am Alexandra Shire Hall
11:30am Celebration of John's life afterwards at the Mt Pleasant Hotel Alexandra.


Helen would prefer a donation to Alexandra & District Hospital rather than flowers. Envelopes will be available at the funeral.

Click on COMMENTS below to read the many comments from John's family and friends. Feel free to add your own.