Born: January 9, 1949 in Public Hospital Griffith
Married: January 30, 1972 in St Laurence O’Toole’s Catholic Church, Forbes, NSW to Carol Anne Edmunds (Born: January 30, 1949)
Children:
Robert John Watts: Born June 1, 1977 in Orange.
Emma Jane Watts: Born October 12,1978 in Orange.
Mary’s Memories:
John’s little drama happened at Rostella when he decided to put a match into an empty 44 gallon fuel drum. I was standing beside the cot tucking Chris in when BOOM!, an awful explosion. I rushed out to find John lying on the ground. I carried him in, bandaged his burnt arms and asked what he’d done. “I just dropped a match in the drum to see what would happen”. Well, he found out! He was in shock for hours.
Jim bought a foal at a sale because it looked so cute. It was a filly but John insisted on calling it Dobbin. As she grew he would get her in the yard and put a bag on her back and ride her around. He’d been riding her for a long time before she had a bridle put on and was broken in. I think he steered her with his knees.
I remember him climbing a tree one day to look at a bird nest. The tree had no branches for a long way up, but he managed to ‘shinny’ up. To come down faster he wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk and slid. Lost all the skin off his torso!
He started school at Red Bend in second class in 1959. He boarded at the College and used to go to the convent school at South Forbes every day on the bus because the first year at Red Bend was fourth class. There were a few little country kids from Bourke and Broken Hill in those days.
John was a good athlete and loved his sport.He was vice-captain of the college in 1968 – a good all-rounder. He also did National Service but, thank God, he didn’t go to Vietnam.
John’s Story:
After I left school I went to Sydney to work for Northern Assurance in O’Connell St. I lived with David Reedy, Jeff and Mick Kevin at 31 Brown St, Paddington.
July 1969 saw National Service. Three months at Kapooka, three at Singleton and three at Bandiana in Victoria.The remainder of the time at Enoggera in Brisbane.When that ended I went back to Sydney to work and living with Jeff again, this time at Double Bay.
After Carol and I were married we lived at Bondi. Carol worked first for DJ’s, then Westfield Construction.
1974 saw us move to Orange.The company had a name change to Commercial Union. I traveled a lot from here to Condobolin, Forbes, Parkes, and Bathurst, Ivanhoe and Bourke a couple of times a year. The company closed down and i went to work for George Dewhurst, Financier and Insurance broker. He and his partner were elderly and it wasn’t long before they sold out and retired.
1980 I gave all my stress and travel away and went to Email. I’m still there making fridges and freezers and loving it. Carol enjoys her work with Telecom and I enjoy not having to be away so I can spend time with my family.
Robert is doing his HSC this year and he enjoys running and football. Emma loves her reading and is a regular bookworm. They both play the spoons.
The Watts Family 