As Good as Gold

There is an apocryphal story of a fifty five year old nurse in a retirement village asking a ninety five year old patient what advice she could offer for her next forty years. The old lady replied “Make sure you build your memories, for when you are my age that is all you will have left!” When the nurse got home that night, she said to her husband “OK, get ready, we leave for Europe next week!” At seventy eight there are obviously many, many memories and this book can only highlight a select number of them. Some of the closer members of the family claim that they find it hard to believe what has been written but I hold that these are my memories, for better or for worse. I could have set out to write an autobiography but my wife, Judy, felt that an autobiography had too much of a poseur sense about it. Indeed for her, even Memoirs sound a bit grand when a few reflections would be adequate. She is a great believer in reflections since she often reflects that “I am a model husband—a faint replica of the real thing” and a comedic drum roll would not go astray. The first driver to write the book was to leave a legacy for our family. The second driver has been to respond to all those innumerable requests as we are reminded of the Music Hall days of yore, when the standard patter went - “At the request of thousands of our adoring fans—Judy, would you please pass me that one letter we received!” However I do hasten to add that there really have been suggestions from many to write our story to encourage the wider community on how the Lord has guided one family through their earthly pilgrimage. It has been an indescribably blessed pilgrimage, even that we have been “Spoilt Rotten”, to coin a phrase. Memories There follows only some of all the memories that are described more fully in The Memoirs—the time at the Coolaroo factory when the Victorian Chemicals’ sign replaced that of Cognis’; the fact that when in negotiations, I never seem to hear the word “no!”; at the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA), when I changed my persona to that of “Dr. Bob” of Veterinary Hospital from “The Muppets” TV Show and found I had FDA Approval of our product; the many joys of all those Gilbert & Sullivan nights; the many memories of fifty six years of marriage and the times we have been the “Punch and Judy Travelling Show”; the night I was an “ass” and asked whether Victorian Chemicals might be for sale; the jokes that I have told during serious discussions and which have been able to maintain equilibrium to reach the best result; the happiness at work of being in my element; the joys of being in musicals when I don’t have a singing voice; the afternoon I was a genius and from which several patents flowed; the times I jumped layers of management to get to the top decision maker – “Take me to your leader” with critically positive results; the afternoon we sold the Richmond plant which was on the “wrong side of the tracks” for top dollar; the days at major meetings when I tell a joke against myself – “What is the difference between an Australian man and the yoghurt you eat for breakfast?—Well the yoghurt at least starts with some culture!” not that it is that exciting in print but certainly has great acceptance at these types of meetings; memories of the bank meetings with laugh-a-minute Power Point presentations through which we kept a strong working relationship; the hours spent in leadership at God’s work at our local church; the late afternoon purchase of a 4.5 hectare factory site with a nodding agreement between the seller and myself. These are but some of the events that have formed the warp and weft that has been my life A Scientist To be called a scientist may sound a little highfalutin, I could preferably say I have been an Organic Chemist all my life. This has involved me with the study of, and work with, organic compounds. These materials form the basis of all earthly life. The simplest organic compounds are based on carbon and hydrogen and are known as hydrocarbons. The compounds can also contain many other elements but particularly oxygen; nitrogen; and sulphur in descending order of importance. Carbon has a specific atomic structure by which it forms covalent bonds with other elements as well as itself. This allows carbon to form long “chains” of carbon atoms. Vegetable oils, such as olive oil or canola oil are made from a specific combination of fifty seven carbon atoms, one hundred and two hydrogen atoms, and six oxygen atoms. For thirty years the company has been manufacturing and selling products derived from these oils. It has kept us off the street.