ERIC WARTH (William Eric Warth) EULOGY

Where to start? From the beginning.

Our Dad, Eric, loved a story. So many to tell, in a life well-lived.

Eric Warth was born on 19th August, 1923 at Richmond, NSW, son of John Cawthorn and Florence Kylie, known as Kylie. He was the second eldest, of four children. Edith, then Eric, John and Margaret, known as Meg.

Eric contracted Scarlet Fever and gastroenteritis when he was six months old and was not expected to live. He was so sick that his parents ordered a coffin to be made for him. His mother took him by train to the Dr Truby King Clinic which had opened in Sydney in 1923. We know this organisation today by the name Karitane. They fed him junket whey which saved his life.

Eric and the family moved around a lot as his father worked on the railways as a station master. They lived at Richmond until he was 4 years old. They moved to Murrurundi, and then to Muswellbrook in 1928, where he started school. An explanation now of Dad’s name. Dad was christened William Eric Warth and all his family called him Bill, and still do. When he was setting out for school, in his own words “Mum said to me, ‘Now Bill when they ask you your name, you must tell them your name is Eric.’ Now, up until this time I’d always been called Bill, so it was rather difficult for me to understand, but I overcame this and did well at Muswellbrook School.” Dad was registered by his father as Eric so officially that was his name, as he forgot to write the name William on the registration form. To this day though, if anyone calls him Bill, or affectionately Uncle Bill, we know which side of the family they are from.

Eric lived at Muswellbrook for 7 years and then moved to Merriwa where he sat for and passed the QC, the Qualifying Certificate, which allowed him to access what was then known as Super Primary classes, which we know now as high school.

One memory from those years which surely influenced his future, was being able to take a joy flight with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in 1934 at Merriwa. He was in church when he heard the planes arriving for the air pageant. He slipped out, and raced to the airfield to see them land. This was often mentioned by Dad as a great experience as he was fascinated by aeroplanes and flying. The flight was paid for by a prominent and wealthy landowner in the district, who was a friend of his father and a Mason. Dad was in a bit of strife when he returned home as he had missed the Sunday roast, but his mother kept a meal for him.

After Merriwa, the family moved to Walcha Road. One of Dad’s favourite stories was telling us about having to ride his bike to school in Walcha each day which was 12 miles away over very hilly country. Before he left for school each day he had to do chores including milking the cow. And of course, it was 12 miles home again. Little did he know at the time that his life partnership was to be with someone from the district.

The move to Cootamundra was next. He attended school but, at the age of 16 in 1939, he convinced his father he was ready to leave school as he had procured a job at the local general store and hardware. He started off delivering fruit then went on to packing grocery orders and was finally made permanent as a hardware shop assistant.

His mother told him that as he was sixteen, he was old enough to smoke. Little did she know that he had been smoking since he was 7 as the railway workers would give him packets of cigarettes in order for him to keep their secret of “smoking on the job”, from his father. Of course, his many years of smoking caught up with him later in life.

When the Second World War began, he was too young to enlist so he joined the VDC, the Volunteer Defence Corp, where he was trained in rifle drill and was able to go on manoeuvres.

In 1941, Eric enlisted in the RAAF. His certificate of Service and Discharge records his date of enlistment as the eleventh of the eleventh 1941, Remembrance Day. He trained as an electrical fitter, including his flight service training, in such places as Williamtown, Ultimo in Sydney, Narromine, Melbourne, Mildura, and Canberra from March 1943 where he joined 8 Squadron. He served in New Guinea from August 1943 to June 1944, based at Goodenough Island and then Tadji. In order to test the voltage regulators on the Beaufort bombers, he would go on bombing raids, as fuel was not to be wasted by taking the planes up for test flights. He returned to Australia in 1944 and was based at Bradfield Park. He was posted to Mildura in January 1945 and life would change forever.

Dad attended a dance while at Mildura and asked a pretty WAAF to dance. He asked her where she was from and she wouldn’t tell him saying that no-one knew where it was. He insisted and finally she relented and said Walcha. He told her how he had lived at Walcha Road and went to school in Walcha so he knew exactly where she was from. They were destined for a life together. Eric and Ivy were married at St Albans Anglican Church at Epping on 21st July 1945. They were attended by his brother John and sister Meg. After the ceremony they honeymooned in the Blue Mountains.

Dad was discharged from the air force in April 1946. He completed the Electrical Fitters course under the CRTS Scheme and they moved to Goulburn where he was employed as an electrical fitter at Southern Electricity Supply. Keith, their first son, was born in June 1946. They spent two years in Goulburn before moving back to Sydney. Peter, their second son was born in August 1948. In 1949, Eric worked as an electrical fitter at Sydney Technical College and became a part time Electrical Trades teacher, which he would enjoy doing for many years.

In the early 1950’s, he was appointed as Mechanical and Scientific Engineer at Berlei Ltd, where he stayed for 17 years, apart from one year away from Berlei’s when he worked in private enterprise making Tungsten tip tools. At Berlei’s, he changed the way many of the garments were made by inventing machines which improved the production process and output. He was always interested in how other companies manufactured their garments so if anyone in the family bought an undergarment from another company, he had to study it to see how it was made. The family settled in a new house in Westmead, where many life-long friendships were made. Daughter, Penny was born in 1951 and Mum and Dad thought she completed their family. Six years later though, another daughter, Amanda, was born in 1958.

In 1968 Eric and Ivy bought an engraving company at Crows Nest called Jacksons Engraving, first in a partnership, and then after a few years, as sole directors. They always had intentions of changing the name but as customers knew the name as it stood, they never did change it. He was often called Mr Jackson. Thus began the next chapter of Eric’s working life. They built Jackson’s up into a thriving business, with both of them as company directors and Mum as company secretary also. Dad’s expertise and creative skills were in high demand and he was always very busy. The distances between home and work became difficult to manage so the family moved to North Ryde in 1970. So Dad would leave for work at 7am, return home for a quick dinner and then drive back to Crows Nest after dinner. He would regularly work on Saturday, and Sunday if necessary to meet deadlines.

Dad was a skilled engraver, and his hand engraving was beautiful. He was very creative and many examples of his work are still in existence. He was very proud to have engraved the original signage and etching of the glass doors in New Parliament House in Canberra.

As the business became more successful, Dad was able include wonderful trips worldwide with Mum. They visited Eric’s family in England and formed close bonds, which still exist to this day. Other countries were visited in Europe, Asia, the US, where Dad was offered a consultancy job in New York which he turned down as home and family was in Australia.

In the mid 1980’s, retirement beckoned as grandchildren were born and priorities changed. Travelling was still on the agenda with a trip around Australia in a campervan, as well as visits to family and friends. Eric had sold the business and stayed on as a consultant for a while.

Dad’s life had many parts but running parallel with his family and working life was his commitment to community involvement. He joined the Masonic Lodge in November 1953. He was Master of his Lodge for 3 separate terms and was appointed District Grand Inspector of Workings No 35 District in 1984-1986. He joined the Royal Arch Masonry in 1970 and was appointed Inspector of the Royal Arch in 1986-1988. In 2013 he was honoured for 60 years of valuable service to Freemasonry by the United Grand Lodge. He was committed to fundraising for The Frank Whiddon Masonic Homes. He was President of the Foundation for 9 years. When he resigned from the committee he still made the long trip from Wahroonga to Glenfield every second Tuesday where he would work in the workshop set up there with an engraving machine making name badges. He trained an age appropriate apprentice so when the trip became too much there was someone to take over. He was devoted to the Lodge and in last few years attended whenever he was able, but usually relying on others for transport to meetings.

Eric joined Rotary International in 1972 as a member of Crows Nest Rotary. He was made president in 1983-1984. He received a Presidential Citation Certificate of Service in 1983-1984 and was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 1988. He was awarded for service above self for 100% attendance for 1997-98. As with everything he took on, he was always totally involved in any fundraising activity. He was generous with his time and willing to use his skills for fundraising and community activities. In the early 90’s there was a terrible flood at Nyngan. Many tradesman gave up their time to travel out west to assist with the clean up. Eric and his Rotary mate, Cyril Clark, two old electricians decided to help. They made their way to Nyngan. Most of the young tradies were given beds in other towns, but the Nyngan folk made room for Dad and Cyril to stay close by. They were treasured by the locals who were thrilled to have these two very experienced electricians who were happy to test out the electrical appliances to see if they worked! Eric and Ivy made many friends and had many great experiences through their association with Rotary.

In 2014, Eric was awarded the Older Persons of the Year Award as part of the North Sydney Community Awards in recognition of outstanding service to the community. The presentation ceremony was not quite the happy event for him, as he and Mum had been involved in a very bad car accident just a couple of days prior. At the time of the ceremony, Mum was in intensive care and Dad was still in shock.

Dad was a member of Parramatta and North Ryde RSL Clubs. Eric and Ivy also enjoyed the many cultural experiences they had through their membership of the Savage Club.

A couple of health scares after retirement slowed Eric down for a while. On returning from an overseas trip, Dad had a persistent, dry cough. This turned out to be far more serious than expected. All those years of smoking, although he had given it up, took their toll and he had a quintuple heart bypass at the age of 71. The family thought this might be the beginning of the end but thankfully after a period of time he fully recovered. Bladder cancer also needed to be monitored over the latter years.

Mum and Dad spent 36 years at North Ryde, but health issues caused them to rethink and move to the Adventist Aged Care Village at Wahroonga to a comfortable villa. They again became involved in village community life and of course, Dad had a workshop with an engraving machine.

Eric was most proud of his family. His four children married, produced 9 beautiful and talented grandchildren, and continues now with the next generation of 8 great grandchildren and the expectation that this will increase.

We all have memories of Dad in his workshop, with a dust coat on, no doubt with pockets full of interesting nuts and bolts he had picked up that might be useful. He was always ready to fix something, design and manufacture something, rewire something, for anyone who asked. Nothing was too much trouble. Many of us here will have something to remember him by, an Eric Warth original.

His proudest achievement though, he would say, was meeting that pretty, shy girl from Walcha and spending 74 wonderful years of marriage with his beautiful girl.

Rest in peace Dad. You will be missed.