SAD TIMES

I've just had my fourth trip back to Melbourne since January, the second for a memorial. In this case, it was John O'Grady, a friend in the 1990s and early 2000s. He died, tragically, in a fire in his Box Hill apartment aged 63. Sadly, his elderly parents are having to deal with this loss when they are facing their own life challenges. It was a small gathering with people (including me) full of regret about not being able to do more for John when he was alive because in the last years, he suffered considerable mental and physical problems. However, a small group of (ex) Melbourne Symphony Orchestra members and Susan and I celebrated the good years of John's life in the pub after the memorial service. 

I met John, through his partner at the time, John Jackson (JJ), who had been my Economics lecturer and then an academic colleague. I came to know John well when I was working for the ABC in Sydney but forever on planes to Melbourne where I usually stayed with them in Richmond. I went through my photos to find images of those years to pass on to  John's mother Janet and step-father Frank. It was the days before mobile phone cameras so there weren’t many and they were usually of special celebrations – parties, birthdays, holidays. So my memories of John are full of good times – champagne, games of Celebrity Heads, endless Monty Python riffs, holidays together, classical music, and lots of laughter. It always amazed me that given John’s health challenges in those days, he always “looked on the bright side of life".

1990s - John & Ann

It was difficult to keep the laughter going after John and JJ broke up and I’m afraid to say that I let our connection break after a number of years. However, the John I’ll remember will be the highly intelligent, warm, welcoming figure, greeting me with a quip and a glass of champagne as I walked in the door. 

1990s - John, JJ, Susan