On Sunday morning 23rd February 2003 at 0540 a.m. in
Chulalongkorn Hospital, Bangkok, PP Colin passed away peacefully after a
long illness.
Colin was a dedicated Rotarian. He was International
Director of our club 2001/2002, and he educated many of our members with his
weekly Rotary Information talks. For the current year 2002/2003 he became
Secretary and worked conscientiously almost on a daily basis with President
Bruno. During this year Colin revitalized the club’s weekly bulletin which
was considered the best in the District.
As a tribute, the following is an edited version of an
article on Colin which originally appeared in the Pattaya Mail in July 2000.
Colin was a distinguished looking man who wore a
moustache which once protected his face from a rascal bushman’s knife
slash in Papua New Guinea.
Colin, who was born in the U.K. in 1932,had a really
different and well traveled life. His first recollection, at age 8 in
wartime England, was when he, his sister and two brothers (one an identical
twin) were sent away from London. He eventually lived in sectarian Belfast
for nine years with his grandmother in a Methodist Manse in a predominately
Catholic area. At that stage Colin had been harboring hopes of becoming a
vet and spent all his spare time at the surgery. Eventually he went into
farming for eight years like his twin brother.
The association with his twin was at times stormy, but
Colin followed him to Australia and they joined the Victorian Police Force.
It was during his stint in the police force that he demonstrated his
pragmatic “middle way”, by taking drunken sailors back to their ships,
when at that time, the norm was to throw them in the cells and make them
endure court proceedings.
Colin was not particularly religious, although he
strongly believed in Buddhism. Whenever he felt “uptight” he read the
book “Getting to know Buddhism” and it unstressed him immediately. It
was a layman’s version and easy for a farang to understand.
Following his time in the Australian Police, Colin
emigrated to Papua New Guinea, firstly as a member of the PNG Royal
Constabulary and then as a successful businessman. With the increasing
violence in PNG Colin eventually called it quits.
Colin’s next step was to move to Thailand because he
had been coming here for holidays since 1980. Having been a Rotarian in PNG
he naturally joined our club. He said, “Rotary has done a lot for me and
taught me how I could help other people. It has given me an interest in
community work.”
Success to Colin was helping people to help themselves. He will be
greatly missed.
