John Humphreys (21/02/1940 - 23/10/2010)

Obituary: 29 October 2010

Robert James

Around 1977, I was running my own computer software business, and consulted the Yellow pages for advertising and printing services.  This led me to call one John Humphreys, in his business called Advertising Media and Marketing Services.

Invited to visit and discuss requirements, I turned up at his home and office in Rutledge St, Queanbeyan.  This was the very first of hundreds of meetings with John and his family in their various homes over the next thirty years, and I still remember it clearly.  The house was not palatial, but it was very much a home.  Talk of business was accompanied by sharing of port wine and introduction to Norma and little Kate.  Scott and Clive didn't quite exist at that time.  On our first meeting I was treated as an honoured guest, as my family and I have been ever since.

Over the years, John brought a lot of goodwill, lots of imagination, energy and entrepreneurial flair into the lives of my family, friends and myself. Although not a business partner, we did a lot of things together, took some risks, met a lot of interesting people, and shared the experience of our families growing up.

In most of these enterprises, John would have a "Great Idea" and seek resources to actualise it.  I would appreciate the grandeur of the concept but foresee difficulties in the detail.  On more than one occasion, when John the Salesman consummated a computer sale, I would say to the customer "Well, you have the hardware - this is when your problems really begin!" John would tell me not to say things like that, but always to concentrate on the positive!

In a variety of unlikely commercial alliances, we worked on such projects as the Australian Music Sales Catalogue, property management systems, milk vendors envelopes advertising, Snowy Mountains accommodation service, motor vehicle dismantlers system and computer cable manufacturing.  Not all of these ventures were astonishing in their commercial success, but they were .. um .. great experience.  But experience is one thing that you can’t get for nothing, and a life without taking chances is not much of a life.

One of our entrepreneurial ventures has survived - John's friend Bob Longbottom initiated the "Thrillseekers Adventurers and Social Club".  John, as the Founding President conceived great ideals for the Club, I as the treasurer struggled to make them happen.  That club has continued for over thirty years, now known as OMNIA, and we have encountered many people who met in the Club and since married.  Norma was the Social Convenor for many years, always energetic, enthusiastic and discreet.  The six Humphreys and James children participated variously as they were born and became active.

Our extra-curricular activities nearly always included the kids.  We created and maintained a vegetable garden on Alex Radosavljevic's property in Queanbeyan, where John conducted his printing business in a large shed.  We went camping at places like Numeralla and Yadboro.  This was a particularly special place for us, as years later was the site of the base camp for a large search when our kids were lost for eight days in the Morton National Park.

Back in civilized society, John was the consummate host, and our tutor in many of the finer things in life.  John and Norma together were our reference for questions such as the various ways to tie a necktie, how to use the term "esquire" in addressing a letter, how to polish silverware, how many glasses to set out for a dinner party, when to use the subjunctive mood in speech, and when and how to present a visiting card.

John was very proud of his Sydney Grammar School education and his Roadknight ancestors, who were instrumental in pioneering pastoral life in the nineteenth century.  The family connection pervaded his sense of place in rural Australiana, and he would have liked to work more on the land.  I hope his family is able to retain that connection.  Norma and John worked together in supporting the Liberal Party at national and local level, engaging with many fine people and important events.

John and Norma had a great "sense of occasion".  It was our pleasure and privilege to be given the role of Scott's god-parents, and invited to a great many of their celebrations for birthdays, Christmas, house-moving, graduations, retirement and dinners for no particular reason.  We couldn't reciprocate in adequate style, so we used to have a monster bonfire each year on Empire Day, out on the farm at Wamboin, where we would feast and frolic through the night with friends and neighbours, exploiting economies of scale to repay lots of hospitalities in one go.

John was a huge help when we built a house up in the hills at Wamboin when my wife Jeanne was eight months pregnant.  We built a 100,000 litre water tank out of steel plates, and John was there with me, struggling on ladders in the wind.  His name is immortalised there in the concrete.

We became very familiar with the Humphreys family treasures, assisting their moves with our little red trailer, from Rutledge St in Queanbeyan, to Stornaway Rd, then to Mawson, then to Kingston, to Kambah, to Calwell, then to Swinger Hill, Ainslie and Waramanga.  Sadly, John's move out of Waramanga has been his last.

Many of us remember John's distinctive Bongo vans (plural).  He was a familiar jovial figure delivering President computers via Bongo van around Canberra, and they were utilised on numerous recreational exploits.  John didn't like to leave a vehicle in its native state, and the Bongos became so heavily embellished with camping fitout that I'm sure it seriously compromised their performance.

John's strokes in 1996 seriously cramped his style.  Despite losing much of his mobility and physical skills, he has made a new life within those constraints.  He has strongly engaged with the community at Waramanga, creating a colourful garden, becoming Community Librarian, driving his scooter around the neighbourhood, delivering pamphlets, and collecting all manner of treasures for his little home.  There's evidently no rule that disablement precludes being an enthusiastic hoarder.

His sense of humour, always rather acerbic, became, if anything more acute.  On hearing of US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, he would straight-away say "She's not all that bright!".  Or, when sighting "Mr Universe", he would say "Don't you mean Mr Punyverse?".  That sort of questionable wit-and-wisdom didn't always go down well with the listeners, but it was what we learned to expect.  The advice “Be yourself, because everyone else is already taken” was certainly applied in his case.

John always loved sailing.  In the last year he acquired a sailing boat and was preparing to restore it for use on the lake.  He also loved classical music - when I visited at Calwell or Ainslie or Swinger Hill or Waramanga, he would be smoking his pipe on the front porch and listening to Swan Lake or the Brandenburg Concertos.  There was music playing in his home when Clive went back there a couple of days ago.

His little dog Benjie, orphaned by the death of his previous owner, became John's inseparable friend, riding around on his scooter and sharing everything with him.  We’re thankful that he has been found a new home.  People are not the only ones whose life is diminished by John's death.

Norma has always sought opportunities for expressing appreciation for the love and support of John in her personal and social life, as well as that of her extended family and friends.  We don't often enough say those kinds of things about our loved ones while they are still alive - What a pity that we leave it until eulogy time to say them.  And what a fortunate fellow John was, to have a wife who affirmed him to the world while he was still listening!

When we lose someone, by death or by other means of separation, it's common for survivors to experience not just the grief of loss, but also feelings of guilt about things done or left undone, relationship not very well reconciled, and things that we could've done, would've done, should've done with them.  It's too late for that now with John; let's concentrate on making the best of the days that we have with our friends and family who are still alive.

My own father collapsed and died 42 years ago at age 52 when I was out walking with him when I was 17.  My mother died a few years later.  I've outlived them both by quite a few years - it helps me to regard each day as a bonus!

John leaves behind four generations of his grieving family, numerous friends and associates, and a heartbroken little dog.

Farewell John - you were a huge part of so many people's lives, and we miss you terribly.

~0~

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