Its hard to talk about, but R.I.P Uncle Kevin McGerty and condolences to the family on the Central Coast of NSW. He was the younger brother to my father and a pillar of integrity, hard work, power and style. He loved my Aunty Norma and they were a fantastic pair. Uncle Kevin was clean cut, handsome, liked good conversation and was more social than my dad which is to say I understand they complemented each other well. When dad was a body builder Uncle Kevin was a power lifter - he never did anything by half - he held the National Heavy Weight Squat record for some 17 years due to his perfect technique. Aunty Mary says when he played pair lawn bowls with his Dad they would win. Like Dad he also became a health inspector, but with Marrickville council, and like Dad faced down the local thugs. For fun he used to buy houses, renovate them and buy a bigger one. Whenever Dad was building some massive fence or doing some unnecessary renovation at the house in Auburn uncle Kevin was the accomplice. His last 25 years were stolen from him when he had a stroke in his early 50s. The first stroke was enough to put him into hospital. The 2nd stroke however from a clot from an infection in his smokers lung hit the other side of his brain and he was never independent again. After a year in hospital draining tar and fluid from his chest he went home. As youd expect, he tried to regain his movement but an accident after a fall at rehabilitation put paid to that. He was always there, but he was robbed of his speech. Later in life they had to remove the lower half of a leg and his world became that much smaller. He passed away at 5pm Saturday our time, a fighter to the last. I always held to the stylish, gregarious, good natured and funny Uncle Kevin as the brother and friend my father always needed. My brother and I probably always wanted to be like Dad and uncle Kevin. Now we have neither. No one thinks these things will happen to them, and then they do. One day he was Sean Connery - a blink of the years and then he is half the size - curled in a wheel chair cursing his inability to talk and the weak side of his body. Ive missed the man he was for decades, and now I miss the man he no longer is. Strong words, but perhaps unreasonably I hate what smoking and stressful work did to him. Please remember each day has enough troubles of its own - no one is meant to have the strength to defeat them all... In any case, please give a passing thought to this lion of a man no longer taken low. R.I.P Uncle Kevin :(
Posted on: Sat, 05 Apr 2014 22:31:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015