This week my dad would have been 100 years old! I've been thinking back about his life, his contribution and what I've learned from my dad. Dad (Walter Thomas Furniss) was born in 1910 to Jessie Lavinia nee Dayhew (1882-1959) & Frederick William Furniss (1879-1963) and grew up in Auburn a suburb of Sydney. The first of a family of seven children and the elder twin, he didn't finish high school or go to university. His early working years were during the time of the Great Depression. He stayed with the NSW Government Railways for 49 years. Because he worked in an essential service, he didn't go to war in 1939. Mum (Edith Isobel) and dad met at a dance and not long after they were married Dad got a transfer to Harden in rural NSW where he ran the NSWGR office. He rode a bicycle to work and during the family part of his life, never owned a car. He and mum had three kids (Helen, Roger and Elaine). That's me in the middle. Have I changed? I don't think so!
They played tennis and cards, joined the local Anglican church (neither of them were Anglican) and the golf club and Dad grew vegetables. In fact I remember just before he died at 72, his papaya trees, grown from seed, produced their first fruit. When the kids reached school age the family moved to Westmead, into a housing commission house, which mum and dad eventually bought, and added to at the back. Dad (and mum) always said we can't give you much money but we can give you an education. And they did.
I remember that when we had radio serials at school, Dad would scour second hand bookshops to buy the book in question. He fostered in us all a love of reading and a curiosity about the world. Compared to mum, dad was quite reserved and introverted. You would often find him in the lounge room in his Van Treight armchair book in hand and listening to to radio, or out in the lean-to shed that served as a place for tools and seeds.
What do I remember most about Dad? Well he was a good and persistent gardener and I think that my sister and I have garnered those genes! He loved to read and would often suggest to us books to read.
He also loved to travel and every year we had a holiday in a different place, thanks in no small part to the free travel provided for railway employees. Mum and dad came to the US for my masters' graduation and they and my sister and I travelled around the states and Canada together. I'm sure dad would have loved to have visited Michael and me in Hanoi this year and to have gone to last night's Brahms concert at the Hanoi Opera House. Dad may have been quite shy but he was not retiring. He loved to find out about how people did things and why.
We all learned a few odd sayings from dad. If he was annoyed he'd tell you to 'go and bite your back', and we were somewhat in dread if mum said, 'if you don't watch out I'll tell your father'. That sometimes meant the leather shaving strap in the bathroom was soon to be slapped around someone's legs. Not fun!
After mum died, dad became quite a good cook. I won't go into the story about lifting the lid on the pressure cooker to see if the marmalade jam was cooked. (But it didn't take too long for him to cover the ceiling with acoustic tiles!)
Ours was not a family where a lot of emotion was shown; there weren't lots of hugs and kisses. However I do know that dad (and mum) worked hard for our well-being and much of what we have experienced as adults is in no small part due to love, care and provision.
Dad had a beautiful writing hand as well and always used a quality fountain pen. Thanks dad and happy birthday!
PS You can see the family tree here:http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/f/u/r/Douglas-C-Furniss/PDFGENEO3.pdf
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