RIP Peter Vandyke

Dear Colleagues,

 

I have the sad duty to inform you of the death of Peter Vandyke of Bellingen, NSW on Thursday 11^th April.  He already had the signs of advanced cancer when Rob Finlayson visited in December yet Peter declined any medical investigation or treatment but chose to be nursed at home by family members. 

 

All our sympathies to daughter Eva and son Harry.  Also to Harry’s partner Stella and especially to Rob Finlayson who treated Peter from Sydney with assistance from the local palliative care nursing team. 

 

Peter was one of the ever-popular members of our year, out-going, well humoured and generous.  He had his own problems and priorities which led to him leaving medical practice when his children were young.  His delight was his garden and his river (Dorrigo then nearby Bellingen).  He instructed his funeral to take place in that garden and we were to be represented by Rob Finlayson who I have personally thanked on behalf of year members. 

 

Best wishes to all year members, Andrew Byrne .. (presently in New York City). 

1978 Sydney University Medical Graduates social pages. (1971syduni.blogspot.com)

 

 

Message from John de Launey

 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] 

Amazing story from Bernie Haylen, Mal Robilliard and families ...

Hi Andrew,

A good news story from two members of the year group.

There were quite a number of intra-year marriages. There's a late entry - of sorts.

On 3^rd May, Dom Haylen, second of 4 children of Bernie and Denise Haylen will be marrying Georgina Robilliard, elder of two daughters of Mal and Janet Robilliard.

The couple met quite randomly via an online dating site. Janet was the first to realise the connection.

The marriage and reception venues will be the same as those for the Robilliard wedding 47 years ago (May 1977), which Bernie and some of the 1978 Graduating  year attended.

There is the possibility of some comfort for the wedding couple in that their parents have been married a combined total of 90 years.

Best regards

Bernie (with approval from Mal)

Message from Max Lenzer ...

Hi Andrew,

I am very sad to hear the news.

I don’t recall seeing Peter since leaving University.

However we were good friends at primary school in Newcastle and in the first two years at Newcastle Boys’ High School.  His father was our GP.

His family moved to Sydney at the end of 1967.

I have fond memories of spending time in the school holidays at their place at Ingleburn.

His parents Bob and Helen were wonderful people. He had two younger brothers Tim and Rob and a younger sister Sarah. 

Best wishes to all

Max Lenzer.