You will be sincerely missed Ron, fond memories of lazy days in the sun at our Reef Beach....watching the ferries pass...many friends scattered along the beach , chatting , tanning.. and sharing picnic lunches and stories. Oh... and yes.. those Fab cakes.. Loved them. God bless you and keep you. Robert

Ron and I have been so very lucky to have been able to spend most of our lives together. We were like Ying and Yang, always in harmony with the world, but still individuals in our own way. On reflection there have been so many moments of happiness. Living with Ron was sheer joy and he had the most calming effect on everyone he came in contact with. Never a harsh word or bad comment about anyone. At the same time he was firm and resolute. So that if you did something, it always had to be correct. Always punctual and it was generally he who was kept waiting for people who were late. Even then, they would be met with a smile, a handshake or kiss. Virtually ever E-mail I have received states: "He was the beautiful man" "A true gentleman" and everyone just loved his smile. This is how we must remember Ron in years to come. I will! On the rare occasion we had a disagreement, he would call me 'Robert' or I would call him 'Ronald' These moments were few and far between and within minutes we'd be sitting down at the dining table with a cup of coffee and one of his cakes, chatting away like not a cross word had been said. Never in our lives did either go to our beds or leave the house other than best friends. And best friends we will be forever.

Ron's sunny smile will always be there when the sun is shining. The love he has for Bob and Bob for him will never die. I can't think of Ron without thinking of his warm, loving welcoming smile. His heart is as big as Sydney harbour.

In the 1950s London’s winters were cold, damp and thick smog was something most residents dreamed of leaving for a place that offered a better climate with sandy beaches and long hot sunny days. Working for the National Bank of Australasia in London, he had asked for and got a transfer to Australia. Even though Ron Wilkinson had been raised in a loving family, his sense of adventure told him that Australia would give him the things he wished for and possibly more. In 1957 for ten pounds Ron got a six week voyage on the SS Fairsea to the great land down under and a new life. Naturally saying farewell to family and friends was tearful, but again he knew he had a fantastic adventure ahead. Many people on the ship alighted in Perth, some in Melbourne and then finally, the last disembarked in Sydney. It was early Saturday morning when the ship sailed through Sydney Heads to what was still a city where you could cross the streets without being run over or even fined for jaywalking. For most residents it meant an easy layback lifestyle. The following Monday Ron started work at the NAB, Bondi Junction branch. That day he couldn’t believe what he had let himself in for. Bushfires surrounded Sydney and thick smoke coloured the sun blood red and the temperature rose to 108 F. Yes Ron, welcome to Sydney and its extremes. Being a bank teller and single, within a short period he was assigned to the staff country relief and was sent to stay in isolated towns like Gravesend. Ron always felt it lived up to its name. Not quite the end of the earth, but at the same time, not far from it. Ron’s last country relief transfer was to Newcastle. Where he worked and boarded at Mayfield with an elderly Russian lady who believed the Russian KBG were after her and that they had planted listening devises around her home. These idiosyncrasies began to show a few days before and after a full moon. Appreciating we’re all funny peculiar in our own way, hers was a little bit weirder than most. The city of Newcastle was a town where a large proportion of men worked at the steel works. Undoubtedly, it would have been hard, hot and very dirty work. A young Bobby Reed had higher expectations of life and they certainly did not mean getting his hands dirty doing shiftwork. His desire was to leave behind the smoke stacks and head to the really ‘Big Smoke’, Sydney. Always pining for a better life, a nice job and financial security. In those days few people hardly ever moved more than a couple of suburbs and those who did leave town usually went by the Newcastle Flyer to Sydney. In the meantime Ron was enjoying his first 14 months in Newcastle, working and making new friends and spending his weekends at the beach. During numerous conversations with friends, one name kept propping up, Bobby Reed?!? Whom, seemingly, everyone else knew except for Ron! Fate has a funny way of putting two people together and it can happen when you least expect it. Bobby quite often helped a nice German lady in her coffee shop and on Friday 21 August 1959, Ron walked in for a cup of coffee. After being introduced he said “So you’re Bobby Reed”. That meeting was the beginning of what would turn out to be a lifelong friendship. May I add that the coffee shop just happened to be called the ‘RENDEZVOUS’. Call it fate, because it was. Talking to Ron I knew within days that I was going to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful, charming Englishman. Ron on the other hand possibly thought, who is this chatterbox who obviously never stops talking. Within weeks Ron had met and become good friends with my parents and from then on they called him son for the rest of their lives. They took him to their hearts as I did and nothing will ever change these feelings. Ron’s transfer from Newcastle to Sydney was in early March 1960 and the following Saturday, 12 March, I arrived at Central railway station and Ron was there to meet me and the beginning of a brand new life for both of us. It now seems just like yesterday that all this happened. Everyday since then our lives have been one of sheer joy and happiness. Ron has never lost that beautiful smile and I still chat away as long as someone will listen. PS The Rendezvous Coffee Lounge in Hunter Street closed many years ago. But the building is still there and as I pass it on the occasion, wonderful memories flood back to an evening that took place over fifty years ago. I will forever count my blessings that fate brought us together, forever.

It was the first time I came to an A.G.M., of the F.B.A. of N.S.W.. I'd had some trepidations about attending such a meeting. Not quite sure what to expect. I'd got to know Bob and Ron a little bit before this but I always think of this photo confirming the beginning of my friendship with Ron and Bob. Since, was it 1993?, I have lost count of how many times I've announced: "I'm off to Bob'nRon's." (Bob'nRon's being one word!) It is going to take quite some getting used to not greeting Ron, often in the kitchen, first, while Cina's barking, when arriving, yet again, through the back gate, in Lauderdale Ave.. It happened so often, that Ron had found yet another "SOMETHING" (newspaper article, type of medication, Dutch person, Dutch related event, Dutch product in the supermarket, .......You name it! ) That he thought might be of interest to me! And I just needed to know about. Ron was always the friendly, perfect host whenever, yet again, I brought, yet another set of visitors to Sydney (Usually from the Netherlands) for coffee, to his home, as a highlight and conclusion to a drive along the beach-side suburbs of Sydney. Never phased, he would welcome them all; make them feel at home and encourage them to talk about their experiences and then, happily pose, on the front lawn, for, yet again another set of photographs. Another favourite picture that I have, is of a family friend, now living in the Netherlands, posing between Bob and Ron and looking up at Ron, with a great big smile. She thought he was such a lovely man! (She, Gerda, knows about his passing and will miss him. As shall I.) Jo