Tributes
Leave a tributeYou knew how to live life to the fullest.
They arrived yesterday and when I got home to unpack I had memories of Roger & his beautiful family who first introduced us to this wine via a visit to the winery in Graytown Vic. He is the reason I love this wine today and is now one of my families favourite wines!
Cheers Roger!
on your Birthday. Still missing you mate.
May your memory and stories bring joy to the world for many years to come.
You will all be in our prayers!
Roger you will be truly missed but have left behind such a beautiful legacy....Your kids still bring life to the house and it is such a wonderful gift to Debbie. Your memories will live on in there minds and hearts forever.
Leave a Tribute
You knew how to live life to the fullest.
Please be patient.
I won't back down
Roger grew up riding his bike before the 'compulsory helmet' law. One day riding without a helmet in Doncaster (near Caringal Ave), a passing police car decided to pull Roger up & give him a fine. That was fair enough, but when he went to ride off home, they stopped him again, and said he wasn't allowed to ride without a helmet, and he had to walk. Of course, a stand-off ensued, since Roger felt it was unfair to force him to walk, since he'd already copped the fine. A increasingly heated discussion followed, then another cop car turns up (this time a paddy wagon). By now Roger is standing up on the pedals, shouting at the cops that the're just a bunch of revenue-collectors, and they should be out catching real crims.
This went on for some time, with a few neighbours coming out to watch the sport.
An impressive scene, I was assured.
I'm not 100% sure how it ended, I think the police were called away (to do some real work), Roger promised not to ride without a helmet....until they were safely out of sight.
sharp eyes
Despite suffering a childhood injury with scissors that gave Roger a distorted pupil, he had excellent eyesight.
One Saturday while riding his pushbike around, Richmond, Roger spotted 'Batch' (Mr Batchelor, a Monaro-driving, Napoleonic class teacher) and 'Hammett' (the young female librarian) together, walking out of the Hilton on Wellington St.
First thing Monday morning, Batch summoned Roger to his ‘crows nest’ office, locked the door and threatened him with a raft of threats inclduding to fail him in whatever subjects he could, if he told anyone. Needless to say, Roger didn't heed the threats, and it was way too late anyway since he'd already told plenty of us. The session in Batch's office simply added extra spice (and credibility) to the story.
the language teacher
The Ulehla family car for many years was a white LH Torana (maybe someone can add a photo?). This car shared many qualities with Roger himself; solidly built, incredibly reliable, and with some surprising hidden abilities. Roger found out that 'Torana' is an aboriginal word meaning 'to fly', and decided to share this knowledge with the four of us in the car at the time, driving through Coburg (near Dave Mielak's place). But Roger knew actions speak louder than words, so rather than simply announce this trivia, he demonstrated by launching the car over a railway crossing. All 4 wheels left the ground, heads hit the ceiling, we landed with an almighty thump and continued on. Only after his passengers asked "why ?" did he explain "torana means to fly in aboriginal" - a fact I'll never forget as a result of Roger's lesson.