Raymond Leddick RIP

All,  It is with much sorrow that we advise of the passing of our dear friend, Ray Leddick.  Our condolences go to Fran and to Ben and Kate and their families. You have had to endure the most traumatic times but Ray is now without pain. We will now concentrate our prayers on Ben`s brave little girl, Isabel who continues her recovery from her 1st Sept, liver transplant.  Rather than me relay details of Ray`s last days to you I have here a lovely note from Fran that she said that I could share with you all; "Hello Davo & Chrissie, Just a quick one to say that Ray slipped away on Sunday at 12.30pm at the Palliative Care unit at Chermside.  I had been staying with him and it was heartbreaking to see him wither away.  Despite his body deteriorating he had no pain ever, just the sh……y conditions that they found hard to control. He was admitted to the RBH 3 weeks ago at our kids insistence (he kept hoping that the Lutate nuclear treatment would have worked wonders but it didn’t unfortunately and his conditions never changed much).  He was dehydrated and malnourished, spent 2 weeks there and then transferred to the PC Chermside last Monday where he would not be prodded and poked etc by noisy hospital conditions.  He was made very comfortable and he was coherent, right up till he slipped away. I gave him a shave at 9am (I told him a couple of days earlier that I would not be opening a Barbers shop) and he was concerned that I would be late taking one of my brothers to the airport for his flight back to Perth!  Always so selfless.  I feel rather numb and have been for about a week as I knew he probably wouldn’t last long.  He said the other day I wish I could have a needle and slip away.  He was in the care of two lovely nurses when he quietly slipped away.  Just  how he wanted to go but wondered how I’d fare!   His main concerns were little Isabel who seems to be doing OK so far after the liver transplant.  Heartbreaking for Ben as Ray worked for/with him in between mining jobs so there were some frustrating moments when Ray/Dad didn’t do things the way the trade Ben had them done….all just part of life,  never a bad feeling once 4.30pm came.    The grandchildren just loved their grandpa and his famous V8 black 6 speed ute that he took them to the tip or other interesting places.  He loved all 6 of them, 5 girls and 1 boy. Thanks for all your support John & Chrissie.  Hope your health is on turbo recovery.  Ray would have been 70 on the 1st October and we had great plans but as they say,  you make plans and God smiles….. There will be a church service at 1pm this Friday 23rd September at St Anne’s Catholic Church in Nelson St Wooloowin (now renamed the suburb its old name).  Fr John Begg ex Bougainville will help with the service,  he came and gave him a blessing yesterday with the kids and myself bedside.  Thanks, Fran." So long ago, in early 1990, i journeyed to the Gold Coast to seek advice from my long time mentor and former Executive Manager, Maurie Pears. I put to him my plans to commence JDA.   While Maurie was most positive about my plans he said that we would not be able to do it on our own. He counselled that I would need quality people networking in and around JDA and that we must reward these people. Our association around Ray and Fran Leddick epitomize the typical and ideal JDA networkers.  It was the Ray Leddicks who made JDA look good. They were the nucleus of our network.  Over many years we appointed and contracted Ray into several widely diverse roles in several countries. Just a few weeks ago Chris and I were in town and we came across Fran and Ray in a New Farm coffee shop. Although he was clearly frailing he was anxious to engage in discussions towards sourcing one last offshore assignment. Ray was born on the 1st October, 1946.  He completed his Motor Mechanic apprenticeship at Eclipse Motors in Sebastapol, Victoria, prior to being drafted into National Service. My call up came some 12 months prior to Ray`s.  On discharge he joined Hamersley Iron for a term of 4 years. It was subsequent to this appointment that Ray commenced his career as an expatriate Aussie.  Ray supported Morgan`s Euclid 105`s from their Itakara workshops (BCL`s fleet). Subsequent to 6 years with Morgans he joined BCL. It was around this time that he transferred from trucks to mineral processing plant. This was followed by yet another major change in career direction. He spent most of the next 15 years in Supply and Stores appointments including associated with spare parts, technical inspection, cataloguing, inventory control, contract administration and procurement.  The countries he served in include Australia, PNG, Indonesia, Egypt, Eritrea, Khazakstan and Tanzania. There are others. We are so pleased that we stopped by that day at the coffee shop. The funeral is set for 1 pm, on Friday 23rd September at St Annes`s Catholic Church in Nelson St, Wooloowin. Thank you so much, Ray, another assignment done well. Thanks to Joan and to Tim. Davo