Ian and I worked together in the 90s. He was a man of extremely high principles and for that I had the greatest respect for him. I was shocked today to hear of his passing. My respect to Ian's family. Keith

Ian and I worked together in the 90s. He was a man of high principles and for that I had the greatest respect for him. It was with shock that today I heard of his passing and can't believe that it could happen to a man of his young age and one who I recall as being so fit and energetic. My thoughts are with his family. Keith

I am devastated to hear of the loss of my friend & travel companion. I am only pleased to hear he has fulfilled one of his dreams with having 4 children. At one stage I remember him telling me he would like 6 or so. Ian & I attended Yanco together,graduating in the year of 1969. We kept in touch for many years, sadly not of any recent time. In 1975 we set off on our 'round the world adventure' together. It would prove to be one of the very best years of my life. Starting with the cheapest possible route to London, which involved a Russian ship to Singapore where we met some memorable characters, thence a very dodgy flight with the Russian airline, Aeroflot. As we took off from Kuala Lumpur on the way to Moscow, smoke, or at least we thought is was smoke, emanated from under Ian's seat. We pressed the hostess button only to be fobbed off in an offhand manner in a foreign tongue. In the next 24 hours we ate 6 identical meals of black bread, with a boiled egg, lettuce, & cheese on the flight. This associated with a rather rotgut white wine. In London we got a job with an Irish group digging ditches for a sewer. It was bitterly cold most of the time, & the ground we were digging was like very firm treacle. You had to take a shovel load, throw shovel & dirt to the top of the ditch, then get out & scrape the mud off with your boot, before descending into the ditch again. The busier it got the slower our Irish colleagues worked, preferring to do some sort of equivalent to calisthentics to keep warm. And being Irish they introduced us to Guinness, which was not good for our savings from the job. We bought a VW in Amsterdam & travelled around Europe. At one stage we couldn't agree as to where to go next so we split up fo a week or two. Despite living in each others pockets for a long time we both found we missed each others company. There are so many stories that could be recounted about that trip! If only I could type. I was in a phase where I was constantly asking the question 'What is the meaning of life?' Ian's uniform answer was 'to be happy', to which I would retort 'so what does being happy mean', & he would say 'family, friends & good times', to which I would say 'so what's so good about that,what's the essence of that experience?', etc. On & on we would go with my incessant questioning, & Ian's patient responses. We never did get to the definitive answer, but in retrospect 'to be happy' is not such a bad aim. It sounds like Ian may have achieved that. I never experienced Ian being angry, the image I have is of a rather shy & quirky smile. He was always a gentle &principled companion through all the years I knew him.We fell out of touch with the move to Dubbo I'm afraid. Despite that he has never ceased to be one of my very best friends & our time together, at Yanco, on the trip, & many other years will always be treasured. My very sincere condolences to all of the family. Ken Armstrong

Here are a number of fond memories that I have of my father: Dad’s speech at my wedding - The theme of the speech was determination. He spoke about my determination in life and my determination to marry Jay as well as Jay’s determination to snare me! It was a quality that I had got from him. Moving to Sydney in 1990 – Dad and Mum decided to move to Sydney as there were more opportunities for us. I was really upset at the time, because I thought Dubbo was great(!), but it was the right move for all of us. Arriving at Yanco Agricultural High School 1994- Saying goodbye and watching Dad drive away after arriving at Yanco for the first time was the hardest thing that I had ever had to do as a child. I can only imagine how hard it was for Dad. I would always look forward to seeing him pick me up from the bus/train/plane from school. Athletics nationals 1999- in between the hurdles heat and final, we had a fair bit of time for me to fill. It was just me and Dad. He took me to Bicentennial Park and gave me a driving lesson. It was a good memory of spending quality time with him. After the lesson he told me that he believed in me and just to relax and enjoy the run. I ended up getting a surprise bronze medal. Never swearing or getting angry – You would rarely hear him swear at all. That was all left to Mum! He had a very even temper and rarely got angry. I can’t remember anytime when he fought with mum. He did discipline us from time to time with the feather duster or the strap, but we had it coming! Morning Yoga - For many years Dad would start the day with 20min of yoga stretches. He was a very loud breather! Dad always put others first – This is a quote from the last email that I received from Dad whilst on my recent honeymoon: ‘Mum has to do pretty well everything and this makes me feel bad. As usual mum always put other people and things before herself and I worry that she will wear out.’ I am grateful for the values of dedication, perseverance and courage that Dad had instilled in each of his children and so strongly demonstrated himself throughout his illness. I'll miss you Dad.