We Remember

Ian Geoffrey Hose19 March 1930 - 24 October 2020

Funeral Service held at Tobin Brothers Seasons of Life Chapel331 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood

Friday, 30 October 2020

ORDER OF SERVICECelebrant ~ Jacqui Chaplin

Opening Song Ballade Pour Adeline ~ Ben Hart

The Opening Celebrant

Candle LightingCavatina ~ John Williams

Ian’s Story Janet Hose

Photographic ReflectionUnforgettable ~ Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole

The ClosingCelebrant

Closing SongTime to Say Goodbye ~ Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman

IAN’S STORY

Eulogy presented by Janet Hose

It is great privilege to gather here today to celebrate Dad’s life.

Welcome and thank you to those on the webcast.

I would like to acknowledge Chris, Lauren and Charlotte Casey who are joining us from New York. Also Ron and Denise joining us

from Queensland.

I would also like to thank Park Lane for all the care and attention they have given Dad over the past 16 months, and thank Dr Altaf for

looking after Dad at Park Lane.

Ian Geoffrey Hose was born on March 19th, 1930, in Camberwell, the first child of Rosewin and William Hose.

He grew up in the family home in Nevis Street, Hartwell, with his siblings Ngairi, Ken and Ron.

My memories of visiting Dad’s family home are filled with intrigue and interest. There were toy trainsets racing around on elevated tracks, a three-wheel racing car in the garage covered with cloth, a

music room and a chicken shed.

Dad attended Canterbury Primary School and then Richmond Technical College.

He commenced his building apprenticeship with Col Imray in Blackburn in the early 50s.

In the mid-50s, Dad joined Sam McCorkell as a builder and he continued to work for Sam until Dad’s retirement aged 65 - that’s 40 years together. As many of you may know Dad built a house in every street in Melbourne!!!! (or so it seemed as we drove around - there was always a story to tell - and the stories became more embellished

as the years went by).

Dad met the love of his life - Betty, at Dance Court where he and Mum were Deb partners. Dad dated Mum on his motorbike with Betty in the sidecar. Dating for three years they married on February 19th,

1955 at the Burwood Presbyterian Church.

Dad already owned a block of land in Heathmont and had started building a house prior to their wedding. They moved in after their honeymoon, with no windows in the kitchen and no floorboards in the bathroom. The room we called the sunroom at Heathmont had no

windows (or skylights for that matter).

Dad built a house for his brother Ron and was involved in the construction of Ken’s home in Heatherdale.

Before long Jenni arrived and I followed on 18 months later and Sue four years later. Dad was always proud of his girls. However, he was never quite sure what to make of us and always sank his head into a

newspaper if we appeared in a petticoat.

One Easter we all embarked on our first caravan trip to Bright. Dad hired the biggest caravan he could get. The camping ground was overflowing with people, and it took quite some time to park our enormous mobile home. It rained all weekend. Not surprisingly we

never went camping again.

Dad worked every Saturday. There was not a project too big for Dad. He and our neighbor Neil dugout a large in-ground swimming pool with shovels and wheel barrows. Dad re-landscaped our backyard with the excavated dirt, built the pool filter and even handmade

every tile that was laid around the perimeter of the pool. We had many hours of fun in that pool.

Dad’s work finally installed a telephone at our home, but being the scrupulously honest man that he was, Dad felt that it could only be used for work calls. We all still had to traipse up the street to the

phone box to call our friends.

Dad belonged to the Lions Club in Heathmont and was on our school’s Parents Committee.

One of the highlights of our year as kids was heading off to Point Lonsdale for our family holiday at the Terminus Guesthouse. As a child Dad also went with his parents and siblings to this old guesthouse annually. Dad talked of travelling in a Charabanc (an early open top motor coach with bench seats facing forwards). It took a full day to get to Point Lonsdale at that time. One year it also took us a full day to get there, after Dad adjusted the spark plugs prior to our departure. The car stopped in Victoria Parade. It was a very hot

Boxing Day and tensions were running high.

Dad ‘s next project was to build us a new home in Heathmont and following completion of this house, he built us a holiday house at Phillip Island. He built both these houses on weekends. It was at Phillip Island that Dad became interested in sailing and bought himself a trailer sailor which he sailed from the Rhyll Yacht Club. He

had many sailors’ yarns to tell.

From 1987 the grandchildren began to arrive – seven in all - Chris, Sarah, Ben, Julia, Lucy, Will and Anna. Around this time Dad became

known as Pop.

In 1989, Mum and Dad sold Phillip Island and bought a house with a stunning view on the hill at McCrae. McCrae became their permanent

residence in 1995 when Dad retired.

First diagnosed with peripheral neuropathies in 1989 Dad’s balance and dexterity slowly deteriorated. It was a great loss for such a talented craftsman and keen gardener. Dad had regular treatment at St Vs hospital and the staff loved Dad. He took great pleasure in showing his grandchildren around and introducing them all to the

staff while he was there.

Some of the grandkids fondest memories were tinkering in the workshop at McCrae with Pop and building things. Pop made them

a gumball machine out of wood.

Dad spent hours tinkering in his workshop, which always had a sturdy bench with a vice and grinder. Dad has made many beautiful

pieces of furniture over the years.

He received quite a bit of ridicule when he made us a folding wooden picnic table which no-one could lift! Everything Dad made was

particularly robust and built to last!

Everything was always too good to throw out and as a result Dad had quite a stash of treasures.

Dad’s grinder became quite notorious. As he slowly became unable to safely use his power tools we removed them one by one from his workshop. His last remaining electrical gadget was his grinder. Everything in the house was subjected to a good buff on the grinder.

All of Mum’s knives looked like serrated knives as Dad maintained them.

Dad loved the view at McCrae and this house was his favourite. He loved the garden. The grandchildren loved playing on the swings in the big gum tree and using the binoculars with Pop to spot ships that were making their way across Port Phillip Bay. Unfortunately, the gum trees at McCrae were also home to jumping jack ants, to which Dad had a severe allergy and developed anaphylaxis. After a number of near-death reactions, the doctors advised Dad that he would have

to move away. They moved down the hill to Rosebud. Dad enjoyed the bowling club and Mum and Dad attended Probus with Ken

and Joan Little.

It is interesting reflecting on who wore the pants in our home. Dad was pretty strong minded, but I think ultimately Mum made the lion’s share of decisions. Mum was a pillar of strength for Dad and was always hard working. There was always fresh baking on the bench and the linoleum floors were waxed and buffed. Mum sewed all our clothes and knitted our jumpers. Mum paid a small fortune for prime cuts of meat. Dad was always adamant that the more you cook meat, the more tender it will become. So we were very accustomed to eating

charred, tough, morsels.

When we wanted to do something, to which the answer was “No”, Mum would always send us out to ask our father. But you can be

pretty sure he had been told what he was to say!!

Mum and Dad eventually decided to move closer to their family and they moved to a retirement village in Box Hill South. Their stint here was brief and the lures of the bay apparently won out over their kids

and they moved back to another home in Rosebud.

They eventually downsized to Highvale Retirement Village two years ago.

One of the hardest things for Dad, when they down-sized to move into the retirement village, was getting rid of his tools, timber and various building implements. Dad was disappointed that there was only a pathetic garden shed with no floor. So Chris set about landscaping

the back garden and creating an acceptable shed.

Dad loved to share building yarns with Xavier who is also a builder. He gifted Xav two small planks of timber which he thought were particularly precious, which Xavier still has. Pop also loved a good

game of Yahtzee.

Dad became a great grandfather in 2019 when Steve and Lucy gave birth to Alex. A few weeks later Chris and Lauren in New York, had Charlotte. Dad had the opportunity to spend time with Charlotte

when they were out last Christmas.

Pop has been much loved by all of the grandkids and great grand kids.

Dad was incredibly proud of his various adventures. Stories and photos of these trips were often a feature of our visits to Park Lane,

in Dad’s last years.

There was the:

Trans Canada train tripA cruise in Alaska

When Mum turned 80 and Dad was 83 (and significantly disabled) they climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge

They took a hot air balloon rideA Tiger Moth flight

A tall-ship sailing tripThe chairlift at Arthurs Seat

Trips to Point Hicks Lighthouse

Dad loved André Rieu. He went to one live concert courtesy of Graeme Casey and rarely missed Andre’s annual concert. Dad and I went together in recent years and as we both seem to have the ‘burst into tears easily’ gene we would find ourselves shedding a tear during

a lively Strauss waltz.

Dad was a busy beaver, but his number one project was his family.

Dad was proud. Proud of Bet and his girls. Proud of his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Proud of all the buildings he had constructed.

Pop was resilient. We had two nicknames for him. One was the Indian Rubber Man, as each time he had a fall, he just seemed to bounce back, unhurt. The other was Lazarus. More than once we thought we

had lost Pop and each time he recovered.

Pop never ever complained about his health and never considered himself to be disabled in any way.

Scrupulously honest, Pop was a man of integrity, something he strongly valued.

He liked routine and punctuality. Mum had dinner on the table between 5.29 and 5.30pm. He set the placemats for morning tea at

10am. The blinds were down at 5.30pm.

Dad was fanatical about locking things up and switching off all the electrical switches before bed.

Dad always arrived 30 minutes before an appointment, much to our annoyance. The car engine would be revving in the driveway long

before we were ready.

Dad was hard working, he was always there to help us… be it move house or renovate.

Dad was content with his lot in life.

Above all else he loved his family.

You have lived a good life Pop and it is time to say goodbye. Thank you for being such a loving husband, father, grandfather and

great grandfather.

We Remember

Ian Geoffrey Hose19 March 1930 - 24 October 2020

Funeral Service held at Tobin Brothers Seasons of Life Chapel331 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood

Friday, 30 October 2020