Thanks for passing on the sad news Andrew. Peter Vandyke and
I grew up within an old-fashioned mile of each other and shared years of
childhood, adolescent and early adult memories together. We shared a love of
horse-riding from early on and were in the same pony and show-jumping clubs.
Then as we hit teenage we played in the same polocrosse team. We spent many
summer afternoons on our horses ranging the hills and farms on the fringes of
Sydney, skylarking and hanging out, on land that has long been swallowed by
outer suburbia. Despite both our fathers being doctors we both still stubbornly
chose to study medicine at the Alma Mater, joining the Gough Generation, and
there you go.
As time passed by, medicine, our natures, and our developing
personal lives took us in very different directions but I caught up with Peter
on the odd occasion while doing Outreach Clinic on the Mid-North Coast. From
his earliest days Peter was always one to take his own path, whether or not the
drummer he heard was the same one others perceived. That is very often a
genuinely courageous way of doing things, as exemplified by the way he chose to
deal with his last days.
Although time separated our trajectories I personally felt
the news of our loss of Peter much more deeply than when hearing of the passing
of others in our wonderful year group.
Regards,
John de Launey
PS: We are in Belgium spending some time with family. Next
week we head to the Basque country in Northern Spain for a cycling trip across
Spain to Malaga on the Mediterranean. The weather in Western Europe has been
diabolical - cold, windy, hailing and generally miserable.
Ed: I also received messages of condolence from Bill Brooks, Eileen and Fred Arndt, Julia Arnold, Ann and Allan Glanville, Judy Stokes, Chris Fenton, Jenny Gray, Julian Scullin, Max Lenzer, Romany and Russell, Jim Markos, Justin Smith (finally retired), Suzanna Tait, Garvin Williamsz. Bernie Haylen, inter alia. [Andrew Byrne addition]
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