Bob Godding dies

I'm sorry to say that my husband Bob passed away in Brisbane Waters Hospital on the June 9.

But while he was there the Rotary Club came to the hospital.

The nurses shifted lounge chairs out and wheeled Bob's bed out.

President Kay Williams presented Bob and I with a beautiful plaque for all the good community work we had done for the great people of the Central Coast.

It made us all proud.

That was on May 31. I lost my mate a few days later.

Bob and I met in 1980 and then married at Ettalong on February 5, 1983.

Bob was a war veteran.

He had been in the army, air force and finished his last couple of years of the Second World War on the Queen Elizabeth and carried groups of American soldiers.

It was classed as the merchant navy, and he had an interesting life.

After the war, he worked and owned the Patonga Bakery, but that was before I was introduced to him.

After we married, we decided to do community work as we were both in good health, so we went to Gosford Hospital and joined Woy Woy Day Care in 1985.

Bob drove the bus and I was the hostess.

We used to pick up the clients from their homes and take them to the Day Care Centre on Ocean Beach Rd.

We took them out to a club now and then, and to Patonga so they could have fish and chips on the water.

At Easter, we would have a competition for the best Easter bonnet and have a barbecue at one of our volunteers' homes.

At Christmas, we would put on a Christmas party and Bob was Santa.

We used to put on concerts and some of our clients were involved, and recorded them on video.

Then Bob and I decided to go out on our own and raise money for Gosford Hospital Cancer Care.

So we had bus trips and boat trips every couple of months and we would go to the Cabbety Winery at Cabbety about three times a year and all the proceeds went to Cancer Care.

When Bob and I turned 80, we had a big party at the Woy Woy Leagues Club.

We renewed our marriage vows of 20 years on February 2, 2003.

Penny Godding, Woy Woy