TRINITY and St Patricks College teacher Rod McCabe, 64, was a larger than life character who will be remembered for his enthusiastic teaching style by the hundreds of students he taught both in Goulburn and in Sydney.
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He will also be remembered by hundreds more who he either played cricket with, against or coached.
Mr McCabe passed away on Thursday at 3.45pm after suffering a heart attack the previous Friday.
Good friend Cameron Buchanan who played cricket with him and whose children were taught and coached by Rod described him as an outstanding mentor for the many young people he taught or coached.
“Everyone who knew him spoke highly of Rod,” Mr Buchannan said.
“He grew up in Goulburn, went to St Pats Primary and St Pats College and returned here to teach.
“Rod really dedicated his life to teaching and encouraging young people.
“Something some people would not know about Rod was that he was also in a couple of racehorse syndicates with me and some other friends.
“He was also a founder of the Trinity Tigers Cricket Club that played in the Golden Oldies World Cricket Festival.
Mr Buchannan said that Rod had made several trips to Sri Lanka where he also participated in cricket coaching programs for their teen age cricket enthusiasts. He even organised donations of cricket gear for some of the less fortunate players there and used some of his money to help them.
He was also a loyal and firm supporter of the work and mission of the Foundation of Goodness (FoG), set up to uplift the lives of rural communities in Sri Lanka.
His joy for helping the less fortunate had overflowed to inspire his students in Australia too. They made contributions to purchase cricket equipment for youngsters playing in the Sri Lanka Schools Cricket Tournament for the first time in the history of Seenigama Vimala Buddhi Maha Vidyalaya.
Former Trinity and St Patricks College teacher Greg Murphy remembered Rod McCabe as an outstanding teacher particularly of middle school students, those in Year 7-9.
“He had a way of making history enjoyable by telling stories about history, Mr Murphy said.
“His forte was medieval as I recall and most students would remember the way he taught with such passion about the subject.
“Rod was also an excellent cricket coach. He would bring year eight boys into the first eleven side and teach them all about the skills an strategy of the game.
“He was highly regarded by the students at school and those he mentored on the Cricket field.”
Trinity College Principal Mary-Jane Carroll-Fajarda said that Rod McCabe came to St Patricks College in 1990 and left for a brief period in 1999 before returning in 2001.
“He was also a dorm master as well as a very dedicated teacher,” Mrs Carroll-Fajarda said.
“He had a soft teaching style that the students responded to well.
“Besides history he also taught geography and religion.
“He was a good person and a great role model the students all really thought highly of him.”
Rod McCabe resigned from teaching on March 1, 2013 due to his health but was never too far from the school and continued to look after the cricket pitches.
Rod’s brother Greg said that Rod had actually started training as a teacher fairly late, about 30 years old. He did his training at Strathfield Catholic College and remained there for eight or so years before returning to Goulburn.
In recent weeks he had undergone an operation to remove a growth in his intestine and was recovering well but had a heart attack on Friday May 2 from which he did not really recover.
Rod McCabe will long be remembered for his positive influence on the lives of thousands of young people both in Australia and Sri Lanka.
Since news emerged of his passing on Thursday evening, dozens of messages have appeared on social media praising Rod McCabe’s teaching and coaching ability and his positive influence on the writers.
Rod McCabe’s funeral service will be held at St Peter and Paul’s Old Cathedral at 11am on Wednesday.
Rod McCabe 03/04/1950 – 08/05/2014, pictured in 2012 at the Adelaide Golden Oldies World Cricket Festival, wearing his Trinity Tigers cap. Photo contributed.
