First of all, I’d like to extend our warmest regards to you all on behalf of the Kealy and Bull families for joining us here today as we remember Uncle Billy.
Some of you will have worked with him, others will have played with him but one thing’s for sure - and those that are related to him know it better than anyone – you never forget him.
We are all here today to celebrate the life of William Patrick Kealy, or as he was affectionately known to all of us, Bill. I’m sure you all have many fond memories of Bill, but here are some of the ones that his family and friends remembered the most.
Bill was born in Wonthaggi on the 17th of September in 1951 to proud parents Bill and Nell Kealy. He was the youngest sibling of three, with older his brother Ted and sister Thelma.
Pretty much all of his childhood was spent at 70 Simpson Street, Yarraville, where as a little fella Bill attended St. Augustine’s and then the Christian Brothers College. He left school at a young age – not an uncommon thing in the mid sixties.
Not one to waste time, he found work straight away and joined the Victorian Railways, starting in North Richmond as a station master’s assistant, which was the person who used to take your ticket from you and then wave the train on with the flags. Part of his job description included cleaning the toilets which, according to legend, he never did, even once. Bill’s love of trains never wavered and he stayed in the Victorian Railway system from then right up until he was taken last week.
It was here in this somewhat unlikely setting that he met his lovely wife, Antoinette Musovic, who caught the train from Macleod to North Richmond daily to go to work at the Reserve bank. Antoinette is known by many names to all of us – to the Kealy’s she was “Toni”, to the Vic Rail crowd she was known as “Ann”, which I’ve only recently found out, but to Bill she was always “Tonga”.
This very sweet, innocent and attractive young lady caught our young William’s eye, and to get her attention he hit on the clever scheme to steal her weekly train ticket and place it on the ledge of the gates and then sit back giggling to himself watching her jump to retrieve it. When he realized he wasn’t getting far with this approach, he changed tack and decided to try convincing her that he was nice and kind, and apparently felt that the best way to achieve that end would be to offer to give her a lift to work.
The station was unattended while he did so of course, but our Billy wasn’t going to let a small issue like that stand in his way.
Tonga was unsure of Bill which, given the fact that he must have seemed like a deranged stalker, probably shouldn’t be surprising, and only agreed to go if her work colleague went with her. He also used to make her milo in the station house, which she used to tip out when he wasn’t looking, because she didn’t know what he had put in it.
Finally, all of his somewhat dubious efforts paid off and he married his sweetheart in on the 23rd of September 1972 at St. John’s Church, Heidelberg. They started their married life in Separation Street, Fairfield.
Not long after he took a position at Seymour Railway station as a station assistant and they moved up the Hume.
Although this meant they were a long way from home and family, it was right for them at the time. In 1973, Bill took a spot at Wandong where he looked after the station, pulled levers, spun dials, blew whistles, flapped his arms and did all the stuff associated with smooth running of the traffic on that line.
Now, at the time, no one knew where the hell Wandong was the town was just a post office, a pub and two houses. It must have had some good stuff in the air though, because in March 1974, their first son Trevor James was born, followed hotly by Andrew William in July 1975.
The clan then made the move to Wilkinson Road in Sunshine in 1978 and in January the following year, their third son, Gavin Patrick came along.
So there’s a tip – if you want 3 sons in 5 years, move to Wandong.
Three years passed and the family went along very nicely and then they decided that a daughter was needed to complete the picture. At the time of one of their early routine scans, they were told that they were having twins, and that one of them was definitely a boy. I reckon that one was probably the one who eventually came to be known as “Melissa.”
When the day of the birth finally arrived, in April 1982, Bill and Tonga were over the moon when their first daughter, Susanne Louisa arrived. Now, as I said, they were expecting her twin to be a boy, however, 7 minutes later they were both beside themselves when Tonga gave birth to another girl, Melissa Jane.
The family was now complete and for the next 7 years life in Wilkinson Road was a typical family setting until 1990 when Trevor was taken by an asthma attack.
Bill had many hobbies and interests.
He thoroughly enjoyed everything to do with cars and driving, which lead in turn to a lot of road trips which enabled Billy to gather his extensive collection of things from the places that he visited including stubby holders, t-shirts, matches, lighters and anything that had the name of a town on it.
He had a love for loud music. Some of his favourite bands were Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Credence and Meatloaf just to name a few.
He’d sit up all night with the stereo blaring and the rest of the family had to sleep through it.
He’d also pulled all-nighters drinking and listening to loud music with Wally, Carmen, Jim, Cathy and Eddie, to name a few., after a couple of years of this, Tonga sent him out to buy headphones which he did. It was now quiet but occasionally the silence was broken by Billy singing a few lines. It was also pretty rare that he’d let a song play all the way through, usually you’d only hear a few bars before the song was changed. Interestingly I do that too, so it must be in the blood.
And who would have guessed about his passion for Gollywogs?!
When the kids were in school, Bill was known to drive past the school and toot his air horn, which played the tune “Come on Aussie”, and their extended families always knew when the family arrived, as he would toot the horn in the driveway.
Bill is in heaven now with his beloved Trevor, Nanna & Grand Dad and other loved ones.
We know in our hearts that eventually one day we will see Bill again, feel his warm embrace, maybe even kick back and raise a glass or two.
In the mean time we hope he’ll step in from time to time us as we live our lives and try to keep us on track. We also know that he’ll be watching over his family and friends, protecting them. Billy, go to your rest now and know that you will always be remembered and as long as you’re not forgotten, you’re never really gone.
