‘Good’ might seem an underwhelming word to describe some ‘thing’, but is being remembered as a good some ‘one’ not the legacy we all strive to leave?
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Former Shepparton mayor, jeweller and watchmaker, businessman, husband, father and prankster John Gerrard will be remembered as a good man; one of the best.
Born in Shepparton on November 27, 1933, to parents Selena and Arthur Gerrard, Mr Gerrard grew up in Shepparton and spent most of his life there.
He died on June 5, 2024, at the age of 90, in Dalmeny, the coastal NSW town where he spent his final 20 years with his surviving wife, Marlene (90), whom he married in Shepparton in 1956.
He completed his secondary education at Geelong Grammar School, where he held a high jump record for 50 years.
Mr Gerrard attended university and attained his jewellery and watchmaking qualifications to follow in the footsteps of his father, who was also a jeweller and watchmaker.
Mr Gerrard’s father opened one of Shepparton’s first jewellery stores — Gerrard’s the Jewellers — in 1951.
Sadly, he died of a heart attack quite young and Mr Gerrard took over the business, where he spent his entire working life.
Outside of paid work, Mr Gerrard worked to serve his community as an active member of Rotary and Apex clubs, as well as a Shepparton Shire councillor.
He served a term as mayor of Shepparton after winning the 1975 election on August 30.
“He was a busy boy,” daughter Penelope Parker, who was 15 years old then, said.
Mrs Parker was the second of Mr and Mrs Gerrard’s five children, sister to Debra, Meridie, Todd (dec) and Nicolas, descending in age order.
As far as hobbies, Mr Gerrard loved his MGs.
He began building a white MG TC not long after getting married.
“He was always tinkering out in the shed,” Mrs Parker said.
“We weren’t allowed out there; it was too dangerous.”
Mr Gerrard was so fond of MGs that he also bought one for each of his sons.
He loved the open road and getting off the beaten path during his many road trips with his family.
“It didn’t matter where we went; every Christmas, we’d drive with five kids, from Shepparton up to Byron Bay, where Mum’s parents lived,” Mrs Parker said.
“We’d be packed into the car and off we’d go; it’d take us two, maybe three days. Sometimes along the way he would turn off the road and Mum would ask ‘John, where are you going, this isn’t the right way?’.
“And he’d say ‘Where’s your spirit of adventure, Mar?’”
Mrs Parker said that conduct wasn’t only reserved for car trips; her dad would also pull the same amusing stunts in the family’s boat, while picnicking on the Goulburn River.
She remembers her father as being more of a prankster than a joker, behaviour that was reserved mostly for family and those close to him.
“You’d see this little glint in his eye and think ‘oh god, what’s he doing?’ before he did it,” Mrs Parker said with a laugh.
She said travelling provided the best memories with her harmlessly mischievous father.
“I suppose that’s when we spent the most time with him: in the car, for three days,” Mrs Parker said.
“He had a thing that if we saw a white horse, we could get an ice-cream in the next town.
“And of course, we’d see a white horse and we’d be pointing, and he’d look in the opposite direction, so then came about the clock.
“Straight ahead was 12 o’clock, so you could call out and say ‘there’s a white horse at nine o’clock’, so he had to look there.
“And he’d say ‘No, that’s not white, that’s cream’ or ‘No, no, that’s just gone that colour because the rain washed the colour off it.’
“He’d have an excuse for everything, but on the odd occasion, we would pull into a town and he would buy us an ice-cream.
“All of us still remember it.”
Even in retirement, Mr Gerrard offered voluntary service to his community, by mowing lawns at local schools and doing odd jobs.
“He was a handyman; he just liked to help people,” Mrs Parker said.
“Dad was a Mr Fix-it; he’d fix everything and anything for everyone.”
Mr Gerrard’s only sibling — a younger sister named Errol — passed away shortly after him.
Mrs Parker said Errol had been a sick child whom no-one had expected to live as long as she did, but believed she’d held on for Mr Gerrard and once she found out her brother had died, it was some sort of poetic permission to pass, too.
A service to celebrate Mr Gerrard’s life was held in Dalmeny, where Mrs Gerrard still lives.
Mrs Parker said he would be remembered as a family man who helped everyone around him.
“Everyone knew him somehow, whether they had had something to do with him or a friend had, everyone seemed to know who he was,” she said.
“He’d stand up for the right thing; he was big on doing the right thing.
“He was a good man and he’ll be remembered for that.”
Senior journalist