My first memory of Tony’s sense of humour was when Yvonne and I asked to talk to them both: I wanted to ask him for his permission and blessing to marry Yvonne. I was nervous, and had just started into it when he interrupted me and said “What do you want? Is it money you want to borrow?” Momentarily thrown off my balance, the twinkle in his eyes showed me he was joking! As it turned out he’d already guessed what I was going to say, and he unreservedly gave us both his permission and his blessing.
He was very down to earth, and supportive too. When Yvonne and I were considering buying our first house that needed a lot of work, after he’d taken a look I asked him how much effort it’d take: I was left in no doubt when he replied “a bucket of blood and a bucket of sweat”! I had never renovated a house before, and had no builder skills, but naively took on the renovation including working on the kitchen to move the back door and put in a new window. When I’d completed that work, he offered to come and do the tiling for us. It was some time later that I discovered that he’d needed two inches of plaster just to get the wall vertical!
Tony was very generous with the family, and when he would get paid for a particularly big job, would take us all on holiday somewhere. I remember three of these in particular: Spain, Disney World Florida and Las Vegas. Each were memorable for different reasons: Spain because it was the first after we were married, Disney World because we could never have afforded it ourselves and all three of our kids thoroughly enjoyed it, and Las Vegas for the flight that he and I took over the Grand Canyon.
I will remember Tony with much affection, and appreciation.
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