Goodbye Dad

Sunday 25^th June 2017

Terence John Brennan (30/10/1934 – 25/6/2017)

Early this morning we received a phone call from Diane’s brother and sister-in-law in Queensland with some very bad news; Diane’s father Terry had had a fall in the bathroom and had died.

He had been not at all well for a few years now with severe breathing difficulties and we had been preparing ourselves that if he had a bad winter then it would dramatically affect his ability breathe at all, but we were just not prepared for the phone call that came through.

Naturally Diane was a bit distraught, I was pretty upset as well (someone has to hold things together) and the crying down the line from Queensland compounded it all – no-one was really holding back how they felt.

Terry was a great man in our family – the patriarch – someone who we have at stages in our lives looked to for guidance and a gentle word here and there.

Great men do not have be great to anyone else other than their families.

Originally from Watford, he and Dorothy, along with their 3 children made the voyage to Australia for a better life and they achieved their goal; in the latter 1990’s they both took out Australian citizenship to make it complete.

As my father-in-law he was just Dad – both he and my own father were men who spoke softly and did not need the big stick – they were men you listened to and they were mates to everyone.

Terry, of late, has been frustrated with not being able to do what he would have done in younger days and that will happen to us all.

Late last year in December, he and Dorothy renewed their marriage vows and whilst, like many men, he might have had a bit of a grumble about it all, he truly loved Dorothy and there was no-one else for him.

It has been a sad sad day for everyone in the family – from Mooloolah to Melbourne, from London to Los Angeles – we begin the grieving, but we will never miss missing him.

So goodbye Dad – we love you and we miss you !