But amid the laughter and the parties, Robert ‘Gopher’ Bowerman’s inner core shone through.

“He taught us strength and respect,” his daughter Timra said yesterday.

“I’m the person I am today because of Dad. He made us into very strong women.”

Mr Bowerman passed away in the early hours of Sunday at Goulburn Base Hospital following a fourmonth battle with lung cancer. He was 67.

His long association with family owned pub The Gordon is legendary. He ran the north Goulburn hotel for just over 20 years until his mother and former licensee, Jean, passed away in 1992. Up until last year he successfully turned his hand to car sales where his well crafted people skills swayed many a transaction.

There’s a ‘Gopher’ tale to tell in most Goulburn quarters and stretching to his brief childhood stomping ground, Taralga.

Yesterday’ his wife Cheryl, daughters Jacinta and Timra, and Robert’s sister Nerida Harris remembered a fun loving character, with a spiritual side and solid values.

“Family gatherings were very important to Dad,” Jacinta said.

“He was a perfectionist. He’d cook up eight courses and keep feeding you.”

Cooking became somewhat of a passion in later years, as his well worn cookbook, complete with commentary would attest.

His perfectionist streak was also borne out in neat rows of mowed grass, sometimes completed with a six pack stacked in the back and Cheryl watching mirthfully as he husband, looking behind him, checked that the rows were straight At Christmas he was like a “big kid;” the first to try the pogo stick or the skating board. They remembered him on the Nelson Bay sand dunes, taking a running jump on his board and sliding full pelt.

“He supported me with my horse riding, even though he couldn’t stand horses,” Jacinta said.

“And he had Timra qualified as a doctor even before she’d finished her degree.”

Their Dad’s bark was worse than his bite. A bellow was quickly followed by a smile and the ‘wait ‘til your father gets home’ threat from Mum, rarely ended in dire consequence.

Robert was generous with his time, turning up to new Mum, Jacinta’s home each Sunday after Mass and cooking lunch for the family. His grandkids, Toby, Rhys and Alec were his pride and joy.

But Cheryl was his “best mate.” He met her in the 1960s when giving her a lift to the Goulburn aeroclub for a night out. They married in 1969. Light hearted banter typified their relationship, along with many humorous moments including their time running the Billabong Tavern in the early 1990s.

“We always had a good time,” Cheryl said yesterday Nerida says she still wears the scars from her childhood, growing up with Robert.

“It was full of surprises,” she told the Post.

Like the time he told her to jump from into chaff bags in a shed across the road from The Gordon, and landed on motorbike handle bars.

Robert’s first job was as a telegram boy with PMG before moving briefly to Sydney to train as a technician with the same organisation.

He’d later say these were among the best working days of his life.

Then came the pub work, car sales and retirement last November.

In March, on a holiday with Cheryl to Norfolk Island he experienced breathing difficulties. The cancer was diagnosed soon after.

“He was in denial for a month but then accepted it,” Timra said.

“He never complained even though he was sick and at times on oxygen 24/7.”

In the last he asked that Timra stay with him, explaining that he had been with her when she suffered her brain aneurism several years ago. It had been a defining point in his life, reinforcing a long held Christian faith.

His family were by his side when he passed away last Sunday.

Robert is also survived by sister, Narelle Holt and son-in-law Shane Elliot.

His Requiem Mass will be held at Ss Peter and Paul’s Old Cathedral tomorrow at 11am, followed by interment at St Patrick’s Cemetery.