Malcolm Waters - 'loved this place with a passion'
Central Coast Council has approved an application for a memorial seat on the Patonga foreshore to acknowledge the outstanding contribution of the late Mr Malcolm Waters to the community.
The application was submitted by his wife Ms Shirley Waters.
In her application, she described his life at Patonga and his community service.
"My late husband Malcolm Anthony Waters and myself purchased the property in Patonga in about June 1990," she wrote.
"It was used on a very regular basis as a weekender until April 2003 when the old home was demolished and the existing one built from which time it has been our permanent place of residence.
"Malcolm's youngest was 18 months old when we arrived in Patonga and he spent practically every weekend in his boat or playing with his youngest son on the shores of Patonga.
"He loved this place with a passion.
"He admired its beautiful shores and the National Park which encompassed it.
"In his latter life, he also enjoyed a weekly drink on 'locals night out' at the pub in Patonga where he was widely known and respected.
"Malcolm was born in Sydney on the 5 November 1933.
"His father Alan John Waters enlisted in the second world war when Malcolm was seven years old and died at Sandakan , Borneo, as a prisoner of the Japanese on June 9, 1945.
"His mother then became a single parent who brought up five children.
"Malcolm obtained a scholarship from Legacy and completed a law degree at Sydney University in 1956.
"When I joined Malcolm's busy legal practice in 1977, he still found time once a month to volunteer as a duty solicitor at Minda Childrens Court, Lidcombe, to appear on behalf of children who needed legal representation
"He gave up court work in the early 1980s due to hearing problems.
"When Malcolm retired in July 2003, he saw a local newspaper advertisement for volunteers for the Woy Woy Meals on Wheels, which duties involved delivering meals to various rostered homes and also checking on the recipient's wellbeing.
"This he performed for about 15 years and gave this up at the age of 85.
"In 2008, he again saw an advertisement in the local newspaper calling for volunteers for the Gosford Red Cross teleservice.
"He then became a Telecross volunteer for about 13 years.
"This entailed him ringing a designated person every morning at about 8am to check on their wellbeing and to confirm such call back to the Red Cross.
"He did this up to shortly before his death.
"Malcolm in the latter years of his retirement suffered poor health, with a heart attack, strokes, a brain aneurysm and cancer but he never let this get in the way of his volunteer work.
"He considered it not a duty but a privilege to make a small difference to people in such need.
"Malcolm was the father of five boys and cancer took his life on March 26, 2021."
SOURCE:
Central Coast Council agenda 2.3, 9 Nov 2021