Here is Des Mooney's obituary from the Freight & Trade Weekly: (Thanks to Brian Kalshoven)
Fond farewell to Saaff man
The freight industry has just said a fond farewell to Des Mooney, who died
as a result of a heart attack, but left a clutch of pleasant memories with family, friends and co-workers. A long-time business colleague
and friend, John Buchell, MD of Heneways, captured
part of the Mooney character when he said he was “a pleasure to work with, and a man who was distinctly pro-active in dealing with issues in the freight industry”. The two first met during Mooney’s 11-year chairmanship of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) in Gauteng. “During his term in office, it was a pleasure to have him in that post,” said Buchell.
“His stint with us as operations manager at Heneways was the
last permanent post he held in a long history with the freight industry
before he finally established himself as a consultant to theindustry,
and to specific, selected clients.” Through FTW, the industry
says goodbye to Des Mooney.
Added November 3, 2009)
_______________________
| The Late Des Mooney. June 2009 |
|
| Des was a great friend from the days we started customs
together in Bulawayo, right up until the time he died. |
| We spent some fantastic times together in Byo, at the Falls,
Harare and later when I holidayed in S.A. |
| and whenever he visited us here in Aussie. His cheeky
sense of humour and his friendship will be sadly missed. |
| Sleep well Des, I am so fortunate to have known you for
so long. |
| Joe Robertson |
|
| Des was one of us, and his passing touches us all.
John Donne put it clearly nearly 500 years ago, when he said that |
| “No man is an island, entire of itself…. Any man’s death diminishes me, because |
| I am involved in Mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee." |
| Best regards to all, Leo |
|
| Please convey my deepest sympathy to Des's family |
| Chris Maidwell & family |
|
| We have good memories of Des and were really
sad to hear that he has passed |
| on.
He was really fun to work with - he gave us lots of good laughs! |
| Fondest Regards, Liz (Fizzy) and Peter Marshall |
|
| It is a very sad day indeed.
The last time I saw Des was at Graham Bennets funeral. |
| I always remember meeting
Des at the training school as new recruits. I was the only one from Umtali and the |
| rest were from Bulawayo and
Salisbury. As was custom we all had to get up and tell everyone who we
were |
| and describe our home towns.
Des got up and introduced himself and went on to describe how wide the streets |
| were so you could turn a span
of oxen! Then I stood up and introduced myself and as everyone knows we were considered |
| as
beings"hicks". I said that in Umtali didn't have wide streets to accomodate an ox cart turning, but that was because |
| we drove motor
cars! From there on in we were the best of friends. Sleep well my buddy, you
will be sorely missed. |
| Peter Sands |
|
| I/we served with Des in
the lowveld (he was i/c Buffalo Range, whilst I was i/c Hippo Valley distillery). An always cheerful |
| tjappie was Des, with an unstoppable sense
of humour. His Immigration counterpart in Chiredzi then was one Jock Cruickshank(sp?) |
| ...... if anyone is in contact with Jock
these days (if he is still alive) - I am sure that Jock would want to know of this sad news. |
| We certainly enjoyed more
than one good hoolie in the lowveld at either Hippy Valley Club, Planters Inn, the Customs mess, |
| the Immigration mess, or even our Resident
Excise Officer's house at 11 Old Mill Road (just up from the club). |
| We served with him in Harare too. A
popular cheerful guy who will be sadly missed by many other than us, I am sure. |
| Tjeeeerrrs poppet, |
| Aussie & Joleen Austin, LONDON England |
|
| Ada and I are saddened at the
news of Des' passing. - I last saw him at GCB's funeral in 2007. |
| As
I fondly remember, he frequently attended the cricket matches we played at the Airways club and was always a jovial-full-of-fun |
| person with appropriate comments
if one went out for a "duck". - We both enjoyed his light-hearted company. |
| God's comfort and grace to
family at this time. |
| Love, Derek and Ada Brent |
|
| Des and I were raw recruits together
in Bulawayo and his cheerfulness often helped me through those anxious days. Shortly |
| after that we were transferred to Vic Falls
and I always found him to be such a good friend. |
| So terribly sad to hear of his passing. |
| With fond memories, Robyn Westermeyer (nee
Forster) |
|
| I remember Des well and will
never forget his smile and sense of humour. |
| Arthur Adams |
|
| I was sorry to hear
about Des's passing away. I don't think that I ever actually worked with him at any time, but I still remember him |
| as one of the students, in the front row, when I presented
my very first training session. It must have been one of the six-week |
| Induction courses. What
I particularly remember is Des grinning there, looking up at me. He had a great sense of humour and was |
| quick to ask the awkward questions. It was a memorable
occasion for me, but far from being negative his comments |
| were very amusing and constructive drawing laughs from
the other students. I can still see his smiling face. |
| Andre Guernier |
|
| I too served with Des and although it was
back in 1970 something, I remember a very happy go lucky guy who always |
| had a smile and a mischievous look on his
face . |
|
Dickie Dickinson
________________________________________________________ |
Sad
to Hear of the Passing of Tubby Tolson by Andre Guernier
I was saddened to read of the
passing of Tubby Tolson. I first met Tubby while stationed in Ndola in the year
prior to the break-up of the Federation.
Tubby was, as I remember, stationed
at one of our border stations on the Congo/Northern Rhodesia border. One of his
duties was to conduct a regular patrol along the length of the Luapula River, which formed the border between the NR and the
Congo, to as far as Lake Mweru and back. Tubby invited me to join him on one
such patrol.
The patrol meant that we had to
cross the Congo Pedicle from just outside Mufulira, cross the Luapula by ferry, and re-enter NR on the other side of the Pedicle.
It was then a case of following
a very rough dirt road all the way up the Luapula river bank taking in Fort Rosebery, checking the odd village store for possible contraband and visiting medical centres
along the way to ensure that rebated alcohol, used for medical purposes, was being properly stored and accounted for.
The area was possibly one of the
most heavily populated parts of NR that I had been to. The road was literally
bordered by non-stop villages on either side all the way to Lake Mweru itself. Tubby
had jokingly called it Main Street Africa.
As we travelled along this rough
road we had to be very careful not to hit some kid that would, without warning, dash from one side of the road to the other
without looking and often emerging suddenly from behind a clump of tall grass.
Fortunately, we managed to avoid
the disaster of collecting one of these dozens of kids, even dogs and goats that were equally prolific and just as good at
attempting a suicidal crossing. But the hundreds of chickens were another matter
altogether. On this trip we collected only three.
But Tubby told me that on some trips his “kill rate” could run to the twenties and more. The way he was describing it to me I rather imagined that he might have painted chickens stencilled on
the outside of the Customs Land Rover door representing each of his “kills”.
I can’t remember how things
went during the years in between, but Tubby, Averil and the kids did visit LM, staying with Muk Micklesfield and his family,
during the early 1970’s.
I saw Tubby and Averil again in
Perth during the mid 1980’s but sort of lost contact after that.
My condolences go to his family.
Andre
4 September 2008
NOTE: A picture, provided
by Andre, has been added to the "We Remember" photo album available to members.
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