Bob Ezzy, late of Mondrook. Photo supplied

Bob Ezzy passed away on January 5, 2021, aged 78 years. He is survived by his wife Margaret, sister Kay, and children and grandchildren.

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The following eulogy was given by Bob's son-in-law, Tony Gabites, at a memorial service held on Saturday, February 20.

Obituary by Tony Gabites

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob (I know Margaret calls him Robert, but he was always Bob to me) when we first came back to Australia from the UK.

My first experiences were fairly typical of the time, a friendly chap who welcomed me into the family and taught me all about farming and being an Aussie. And he definitely became my Aussie Dad which says so much about him. He was always friendly, so welcoming and sharing and could see the potential in all.

At school he was in all the sporting teams - diving, hockey, cricket, rugby league. He was also involved in Old Bar Surf Lifesaving and sailing throughout his high school years.

He played rugby league throughout primary and high school, then rugby union at college, then back to league again until he got married. He was part of the high school First 13 that won everything, and one of the great outcomes from this was his friendships with teammates. The team remained a lifelong passion with regular reunions organised and team members providing great support to each other throughout the years. He also coached rugby league teams throughout his teaching career.

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Apparently, schooling was another one of his passions (actually I think maybe sports was more important!). As a young man he started his teaching career in Queanbeyan and then came back home to teach at Taree Primary, Chatham, and Taree West. Ultimately, he was the principal at both Pacific Palms and Cundletown for many years. He would often mention the pleasure he got from seeing an old student or getting an email.

There were a couple of other things I recently learnt about Bob. He was involved in Scouts for a period and was an active blood donor. I also understand he was very disappointed when he was told he could no longer give blood due to having a skin cancer removed. True to form, he just wanted to give.

Bob's farm had an interesting history. The family grew the last millet supply on Mondrook for the local broom making factory. After that they moved into market gardening for a number of years before finally moving into cattle.

The cattle business started with poll herefords, and then many years of his beloved Brangus. Like everything he did, his passion shone through and he got very involved in the NSW Brangus group going to many meetings over many years, travelling throughout Australia and even to South America to the World Conference for Brangus, so he could source the best knowledge possible on the cattle he loved.

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Of course, a large part of his life was his family. Bob married Margaret in 1967.

They did manage a few years of freedom before the patter of little feet, Brad and then Josie.

Bob enjoyed sharing his love and his passion, and his opinions for all things with the family (and extended family).

Bob was involved with sailing when at school but came into his own when Brad and Josie sailed. He was actively involved in the club and was also the commodore of the club for a number of years.

One of the stories I remember was the day he taught Brad and Josie to sail. Apparently he stuck them in the boat, told Brad to aim for a tree on the other side and pushed them off. Legend has it Brad, true to his father's words, ran into the tree on the other side of the river as someone had forgotten to teach them how to turn the boat!

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The family moved into the 'new' house 40 odd years ago and that was the start of the native garden at Moondrook. Over the years grevilleas became his passion. He has up to over 40 different varieties growing on the banks with some quite rare flowers managing to survive in the Manning.

Bob was an avid collector of a wide range of items, from coins through to South Sydney memorabilia.

He was Proud Member 1007 and a mad Souths supporter until three years ago when he disagreed with the decisions made with the team and no longer followed them. That's typical of Bob, he was often 100 per cent in or 100 per cent out of his passions in life.

It didn't matter what he did, be it the Mondrook magazine that he started, or organising an event, he put everything into it and expected everyone else to do the same. He would get very disappointed if those around him didn't display equal passion and enthusiasm as him.

Finally, as he always signed off ....

"Keep smiling."