“Sonny”

“Sonny”

My elder brother Stanley died in February 2011  he would have been 79 today the 28th March 2012. He was, I believe, diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of 70 and this was his fate; he died as a result of this cancer.

Sonny’s given names were Stanley (after his father) Ernest (after an uncle and godfather) Alfred (after his maternal grandfather). He had the initials SEA and he was always attracted to the sea. He served in the Royal Australian Navy during his National Service training and joined the ships company aboard the HMAS Culgoa, a frigate and also served on a corvette the name of which escapes me at the moment. Should I ever have a flash and remember the ship I will update this blog.

All the nice girls love a sailor and Sonny made the most of that, I can’t understand why he didn’t sign on with the navy permanently.

Most of his working life was spent in shipping and after much hard work and study (with which he found great difficulty) he was admitted to the Baltic Exchange as a member; much to his credit.

Sonny was never much of a scholar, he had precious little encouragement from his mother who prided herself on being well educated (of which I have my doubts). I recall when he started secondary school he was placed in the lowest class in the school; 1 C., he did struggle but by his final 4th year he rose to be in 4 B., I think this was quite an achievement on his part considering the lack of interest shown him by both his mother,and teachers.

We were not particularly close, that’s probably more my fault than his, though 2 years younger I always considered myself superior, but then being an arrogant sod I suppose it is only to be expected. My mother I think encouraged me in this, she appeared to have very little time for both my brother and my younger sister, much to my disadvantage.

Sonny was survived by his second wife Coral and his two sons Geoffrey and Barry by his first wife Maureen who remarried and resides in Queensland