Gordon Thomas Briggs 57, passed away peacefully at the Geelong hospital on Saturday 17^th January 2009. Having never regained consciousness after being pulled from the water by members of the Lorne Life Saving Club. He was competing in the Lorne Pier to Pub swim, one of his many passions. Gordon was a passionate man.

Gordon had passion for his family, his best friend and loving wife Annie, and his total devotion to his two daughters Clare and Anna, as well as his parents Ron and Rose, and his sisters, Barbara, Annette, Judi and Glenda.

Gordon was born 26^th March 1951, and grew up in Wodonga, in north east Victoria. His sisters remember him as a bit of a prankster as a child, and say he did well at school, and had economic circumstances been more favorable he may have gone on to higher education. These two qualities of humour and intelligence were to stand Gordon in good stead throughout his life.

After receiving his Leaving Certificate from Wodonga Tech in 1968, he traveled to Melbourne to start work for the Post Master Generals Department, which at that time handled all of the post and telecommunications. After five years with the PMG, Gordon headed overseas, where he worked as a lifeguard in Durban, South Africa, before heading to London where he met his lifelong partner Annie McGlynn, a midwife from a southern Irish village named Rhode in County Offaly.

When Annie returned to Ireland, Gordon went with her, and for about a year he worked for The Steel Company of Ireland, this was to be the beginning of a successful career in the steel industry. After bringing Annie to Australia to meet his family and staying here for about a year, they returned to Ireland for their marriage on Saturday 8^th April 1978. They then returned to Melbourne that year and Gordon took a business course in sales and went to work for Eagle and Globe Steel. He started as a sales rep and over the years that followed, worked his way up to the position of Sales Manager.

It was during his ten years at Eagle and Globe Steel that Gordon and Annie became the proud parents of two daughters, Clare and Anna, who were born in 1982 and 1985 respectively. Clare and Anna will always remember “dad” as a loving, kind, funny, knowledgeable, decisive and modest man who instilled in them both a sense of confidence and independence.

It was also during this time that Gordon was to come into contact with 4 other employees of the company, all of whom would have a great influence over each others lives. In 1987, Gordon along with Russell Bon, Nik Sharplin, Tony Green and Gary Kelly left Eagle and Globe to form their own steel distribution company, Interlloy. Over the following 22 years the “band of Brothers’, as one staff member named them, built a national business that is today, the largest independent special steel stockist in Australia, a legacy of which to be proud.

Gordon’s trekking of the Kokoda Track in September 2008 was the realization of a long held dream. One of the reasons he felt a need to walk that track was because his father had fought in New Guinea during World War II. Gordon’s ability to walk the Kokoda track at the age of 57 had much to do with his extraordinary level of physical and mental fitness.

Gordon had a passion for fitness, whether as a cyclist, he was a regular competitor in the Round the Bay in a Day event, and took part in the Great Victorian Bike Ride multiple times. Or swimming, which was another of his passions, swimming most mornings at the Ringwood pool, and a regular participant in open water swims for the last ten years. He also enjoyed Kayaking and bush walking, having walked Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain, and New Zealand’s Milford Sound with his life long partner Annie.

Those that knew Gordon (and there were many) knew of another of his passion’s, the Collingwood Football club. He was person whose company everyone enjoyed, a man in whose company you felt comfortable, and in whose company you were guaranteed of a laugh, and probably a beer, or glass of red.

He will be remembered by many for different reasons, but everyone remembers the booming voice, the deep laugh, and his response “fair dinkum” which were always heard by all who came in contact with “The big fella”, “Gordy”, or “Gordo”.

Gordon passed away pursuing his dream of the love of life.

From your family and friends, “Fromage”.

http://gordonandanniesjourney.blogspot.com/