A Sad Cause of Delay

Over the past few days I have been mostly offline and I apologise for any emails that have gone unanswered.

Some of you will know whilst I was in Thailand at the start of November my great auntie, Raja Ramler, passed away. I could not attend the funeral in Melbourne the day after and it was a horrible feeling of disconnection from my family. Before I left for The Philippines I had lunch with my great uncle, Lolek Ramler. He had lost weight and looked understandably drawn but he did his best to put on a brave face after losing his wife of some 60 years.

Last Thursday my father had contacted me to advise Lolek had been admitted into hospital, had lost considerably more weight and appeared to be weeks away from passing. Dad had organised for my grandmother (Lolek's sister) to fly to Melbourne on Tuesday morning with him to visit; no small task for a 95 year old.

On Monday afternoon Lolek passed away.

I am weary of dwelling on any personal loss I feel given the two sons, Paul and Gary and five grandchildren Carly, Dean, Sarah, Elliot and Alana are now facing the indescribable grief caused by the loss of their Mother and Father, Grandmother and Grandfather within just a few weeks.

Success is often - wrongly - attributed to the amount of personal wealth an individual holds. Off that definition anyone who has ever inherited a cent is 'successful'. I would prefer to define success by the personal adversity an individual has faced and their ability to still earn a buck despite the incredible odds suggesting otherwise. Off that definition, Lolek and Raja were succesful in spades.

My grandmother and her brother, Lolek, had six other sisters. The sisters had been rounded up with their parents (my great grandparents) at the family house, forced to dig a large hole in the backyard, pushed in and then executed in 1939.

My grandmother was already married by this stage to my grandfather, Frederick Cass, and had left for the safety of Melbourne prior to the outbreak of WWII. They were joined by Lolek 3 years later who had spent his time firstly in the Polish army and then the British army on his way to a desolate port in Townsville, Queensland with a couple of pounds in his pocket. After spending the next few years in the spare room of my grandparent's house in Elsternwick, he moved out to marry Raja and start a small furniture manafacturing business. 50 years later that small business was to become Australia's largest furniture contractor with clients including the Sydney Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Westfield Shopping Centres, Crown Casino and the Hyatt Hotel Group.

Sitting on the otherside of the world I would dearly prefer to be in Melbourne with my family right now and share with them the loss of two incredible people.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/16/1084646068783.html?from=storylhs