The fellow considered to be “Mr Shepparton”,
Bill Hunter, died recently and was
buried on Thursday (May 31). More than 1000 people attended his funeral and
being one of those, I later that day reflected on knowing him through my former
role at Editor of the Shepparton
News.
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| "Mr Shepparton" - William Birchall Hunter. |
Bill Hunter
and I had decidedly different beliefs, but in the chaos that is life, we had strikingly
similar ideals.
He was
ardently attached to some values that I saw as frivolous, but even though my
position was obvious, and different, he was always a truly nice bloke whose
friendship never fluctuated despite those dissimilarities in our relationship.
His
obsession with the “bigger picture” and the importance of getting things done,
seemed to relegate those lesser personality issues that people often focus on
to near the bottom of his hierarchy of concerns.
That,
however, does not suggest Bill didn’t care about those around him: he did, and
that was unquestionably one of his true strengths – he cared deeply, about
everybody and everything.
Listening to
W.B. Hunter Group managing director, Michael Moroney, and
the Shepparton based
MLC, Wendy Lovell, talk about his dynamism and his long and tireless
contribution to the Goulburn Valley, and Shepparton in particular, it feels
rather bold of me to call him a friend.
However, it
was obvious to all at yesterday’s funeral, that Bill was everyone’s friend,
even in the rough and tumble of business and politics at the local, State and
Federal levels.
Bill had
the rare skill to identify something for what it was, do it without undue
offence, move on and again focus on the greater good for the greater number.
The lessons
of history were not wasted on Bill for he understood scarcity and the use of
finite resources.
No matter
where he was and should he need to remind himself of something, he could
produce a used envelope and quickly note the message. Bill never wasted
anything, not even used envelopes.
Every
community needs a champion and the one we fare welled yesterday was the essence
of the energy that saw Shepparton become Greater Shepparton.
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