When Wendell Rosewarne became ill with pancreatic cancer, the last thing he wanted was to be a burden.
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“I’m sorry about this,” he said to his sister, Mary.
It was typical of the self-effacing, ever organised Goulburn character who died from the disease on Monday night.
His sister Mary O’Neill was a constant support, travelling from her Toowoomba home five weeks ago to be by his side.
It would not have been any other way.
Life growing up in the Rosewarne household was poor but rich in many ways.
“(But) we always stuck together,” Mrs O’Neill said.
“We had a very happy childhood. Legacy was our saviour and really looked after us. We always had good food on the table and we were happy together.”
Mary was the elder child of Percy and Mary Rosewarne, then came James and Wendell. Their mother’s first child, a girl, was stillborn. Wendell was three in 1940 when his father died of wounds inflicted in World War One.
The family lived in a war service home near the saleyards but soon moved to Montague Street, where they remained. As Mrs O’Neill explained, their mother devoted her life to looking after them. Their grandmother also lived with them and helped out.
“We regularly went to the pictures and had an ice-cream afterwards from the dairy over the road,” she said.
“...Other times we’d go to friends’ places and play or do homework.”
All the children went to nearby Catholic School, Saint Brigid’s. Mary later attended Our Lady of Mercy College, while the boys went to Saint Patrick’s Technical School. All achieved their intermediate certificate.
Contrary to expectation, Wendell was not a scallywag. That tag belonged to brother, James, known for occasionally pinching peaches from the neighbour’s tree.
“Wendell was no trouble growing up,” Mrs O’Neill said.
“He had a paper run with his good friend, John Divall and sold papers down at the railway station. He also sold ice-creams at the pictures during interval.”
Later, they came to know each other better. James left home for a Post Office job and Mary and Wendell stayed with their mother. Following school, Wendell worked at Lowes Garage and then Knowlman’s hardware department before joining the Post Office where he remained for 33 years, always delivering mail on his trusty pushbike.
He was able to give James the money for his first home, but that was typical of his generosity, Mrs O’Neill said.
Dogs were a mainstay. There were three ‘Monty’s’ in his lifetime, named after Montague Street, and one ‘Max,’ so dubbed in honour of late mayor, Max Hadlow.
But there was also sport.
“He just loved to get out there and he wasn’t very interested in girls at that stage. He didn’t have a serious girlfriend that I know of but he loved his sport, his job and his family,” Mrs O’Neill said.
His exploits in the sporting arena are well known. But as former Goulburn Swans AFL president, Steve Armstrong related this week, Wendell’s mother didn’t like the idea of him playing Aussie Rules. He kept it well hidden. In every Goulburn Post write up he was known as ‘Ross Warne.’
Mrs O’Neill said his selection in the Old Collegians world cricket tour in 1968 and carrying the Olympic Torch in 2000 were highlights of his life.
She told The Post that Wendell faced his illness with courage. He was well organised, arranging his affairs and saying the things he needed. The pair shared many special conversations in his final weeks and were able to say goodbye.
“Your last goodbye is always the best,” Mrs O’Neill said with a tear in her eye.
Wendell’s funeral service will be held at Sts Peter and Paul’s Cathedral at 2pm Wednesday, followed by burial at the Catholic cemetery, Middle Arm Road. The family requests donations to Goulburn Legacy in lieu of flowers.
Wendell is predeceased by his brother, James, who died in 2012.