The committee, life members, members and friends of the Doncaster Athletics Club,
Our family extends its deepest gratitude to you for sharing and honoring our Fathers life. We are deeply touched by the meaningful and heartfelt sentiments expressed in your paper tribute and sincerely thank all involved in organizing the get together at the track following Dad’s funeral. It seemed so appropriate that DAC welcomed those who came to mourn Dad’s loss while celebrating his life.
From the time Dad arrived at DAC, you welcomed and embraced him. By providing a caring and supportive environment, he immersed himself into various roles as Coach, mentor, committee member and friend to all those seeking a guiding hand. He became part of the heart and soul of the club, the fabric from which athletic and personal growth and development was woven.
DAC became his home away from home, your community his extended family. Please accept our apologise to the many we have been unable to speak with or write to personally. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and respect for Dad and the numerous letters, cards and messages we have received. If Dad was important to you, you were important to him and therefore important to us, his family. We are only now beginning to appreciate the significance of the impact and influence he had on so many young lives.
If the measure of a person be defined by the impact and mark they leave on life and on all those lives they touched, then Dad’s contribution is immeasurable. By affording Dad the privilege of his coaching and mentoring roles and providing a supportive and nurturing environment where coaches and athletes alike could thrive and grow, you enriched and completed his life.
DAC and your community have played such an integral and much valued role in Dad’s life, which you will forever share in his enduring legacy because you helped create it.
For this we are forever grateful.
Michael, Colleen, Brendan and Siobhan