General News
16 October, 2023
In Memoriam: Remembering Alan Elliot
On Tuesday, October 3, a funeral service was held to honour the life of Alan Elliot, a man who touched many lives. Alan is best remembered as the proprieter of Elliot Farm Supplies, a business his grandfather Joseph had begun in 1908. Following is...
On Tuesday, October 3, a funeral service was held to honour the life of Alan Elliot, a man who touched many lives.
Alan is best remembered as the proprieter of Elliot Farm Supplies, a business his grandfather Joseph had begun in 1908.
Following is Alan’s eulogy which his widow, Marie kindly supplied.
Maryborough, Victoria. A town 168 kilometres northwest of Melbourne. The birthplace of Alan Elliott, and the place where the greater part of the first two thirds of Alan’s life were lived.
He was born in 1935, on January 31, to parents Doris and Redvers — hence Alan’s middle name. He was the youngest in the family, joining sisters Dorothy and Betty, and brother Jack.
Tragically his brother Jack died at the age of 21 as the result of a road accident, and Alan is now the last of his generation to pass away.
When he was just a few days old, Alan was admitted to hospital suffering from pyloric stenosis, a problem in his stomach that was preventing food getting from his stomach to his intestine.
He was operated on, successfully, but it left him with a scar for the remainder of his life, which looked like the surgeon may have used a hacksaw.
Alan attended the local state school, No. 404, then on to Maryborough High School, where he made a name for himself as the swimming champion.
His grandfather Joseph had begun a business in Maryborough in 1908, which was then passed on to his son Redvers, becoming R G Elliott Farm Supplies, and as the only remaining son after Jack’s death, the business would one day be Alan’s. So on leaving school, Alan began working in the family business, learning the ropes.
His tenure was interrupted by National Service, where he spent three years, ending up as a Lieutenant.
Then as his father’s impending retirement approached, Alan asked for a year off, to scratch an itch to travel and see something of the world, which his father agreed to.
Aged in his mid-20s, Alan and his mate Len Shields headed for Melbourne, to work for a short period before they planned to embark on a trip to England. But those plans would be thwarted.
Alan began work at J.B. Weir & Sons, Melbourne stockbrokers. Also working at J.B. Weir was a young lady named Marie. After a few smiles had been exchanged, Alan asked her out on a date, to which Marie politely replied, “no thank you, I already have a boyfriend”.
When she told her mum that she had been asked out by a young man at work, and said no, her mum said, “you’re young, enjoy yourself, tell him yes”. And so Marie went back and asked Alan if the offer was still standing. It was, and they headed out on their first date for dinner at Florentino’s. Which led to more dates, and a blooming relationship.
Time came for the trip to England, and Alan asked Marie if she would wait for him until he returned. She said ‘no’. Alan wisely said, “I won’t go then. Ok, will you marry me?” This time the response was yes, just four months after knowing one another.
Len was still going to England, and Alan wanted him at the wedding, so things were quickly arranged, and on January 11, 1961, Alan and Marie became husband and wife at St Johns Camberwell, just seven months after that first meeting, with the reception held at the Danish Club in Beaconsfield Parade Albert Park. They then flew to Hayman Island for a 10-day honeymoon.
Son Christopher was born in November that year, followed by Nick in 1965, then a son Jeremy in 1967 who was stillborn.
Home of course was Maryborough, with Alan taking over the business in Nolan Street and re-branding it Elliott Farm Supplies. He ran the business very successfully for the next 20 plus years.
They built a beautiful home in town that was designed by a Melbourne-based architect, very modern at the time, and their home appeared in the Herald Sun.
Alan devoted himself to his business, his family, and also the Maryborough community. He was on the board of the hospital, and on the board of The Maryborough District Advertiser, and was a member of the Apex Club among other community involvement.
They were able to purchase a beach house at Jan Juc, which provided many wonderful family holidays and weekends over the years.
But by the early 90s, with the boys having left home and showing no desire to take over the reigns of the business, Alan decided it was time to sell and retire, by now aged in his mid-50s. So expecting an easy sale, the business and the house were put up for sale at the same time.
Well, the house sold quickly, but the business took quite a bit longer, and so Marie moved down to the beach house, while Alan rented a flat in Maryborough until the business was eventually sold to a local farmer. Somewhat sadly, the business didn’t survive too long after the sale.
Home became Fitzroy, but not for too long, as a friend of Alan’s — Peter — rang him one day.
Peter was the managing director of a new company farming salmon called Tassal Victorian, a company that was expanding rapidly, and Alan was offered the job as sales manager, which he accepted, and before long was appointed national sales manager.
And so it was off to Tasmania, where he and Marie would spend the next three years.
As usual, Alan threw himself into the job, and would be up at 4 am to go to the fish markets, and helped drive the expansion of the business. Marie also ending up being employed by the company in retail sales, getting Tassal products into Woolworths.
On closing that chapter of their lives, Alan and Marie returned to Melbourne, to a home in Kew, but soon they were spending more time down at the beach house than in Kew, and so they sold both and moved to Torquay.
This gave Alan more time to enjoy one of his passions, golf. It became almost more of an obsession than a passion. He did manage to score a hole in one, something he was pretty chuffed about.
Alan was a man who liked to keep fit and active. In the Maryborough days he did a lot of running for fitness, and at one stage when Nick began playing cricket, Alan took it up too, and played a few seasons as a ‘mature age player’.
Genealogy also became a passion, with Alan extensively researching and documenting his own family tree, but also assisting others to do the same. He dedicated quite a bit of time to it, and was proud of the outcomes he achieved. Including adding two daughters-in-law to the immediate family — Jo in September 1990 and Flick in December 2010.
By 2020, Alan’s health had begun to decline. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and he had a blood disorder and the onset of Parkinsons, and the decision was made to move closer to family and friends to the Mornington Peninsula, purchasing a home in Rosebud.
And Alan’s 88-year journey came to an end on September 20, the end of a successful, gentle, peaceful life, a well-lived life of a humble gentleman.
He will be missed by all who knew him and loved him.