AS a founding member of the Worshipful Society of Coffee Beans, Dr Graham Gordon and his fellow retirees meet on Fridays at the Coffee Palace to discuss a range of subjects, all of which are of most importance to whom they are not sure, but they discuss them anyway.
“Our meetings are, to my ears, like symphonic music,” he said.
“Some weeks we build up in intensity like Ravel’s Bolero; other weeks are a place like Carmina Burana (which means rhymed lyrics mainly in Latin).
“Then there are other weeks when conversations are gentle and thoughtful like Bach’s Air on the G-string.
‘’Not only do I have my Coffee Beans group, once a month I meet with a group of retired doctors for lunch.
“We call ourselves the ‘grumpy doctors’, we discuss all things that we think are wrong with the medical system and what we would do to fix them.
“Of course, like most ageing people, the older we get the better we were at everything we did,” Dr Gordon said.
I first met Dr Gordon said several years ago when we were both in the same trivia team.
With two teams finishing equal on top, and ours being one of those, there was a play off to determine the eventual winner.
The question asked to determine the winner was: “What was the make and model of the car used in the first James Bond movie?”
I, like all others at the trivia night, excluding Dr Gordon said had no clue, he smiled and told us that it was an Aston Martin, model DB5.
Not only is Dr Gordon said a person that has seen and experienced more things in his life than most of us could ever dream of, he’s a handy man to have on your team at a trivia night.
Dr Gordon said, now in his 80s was born in England, the son of a doctor who was always destined and expected to follow his father’s footsteps.
“Although my father never had any doubts about what I would end up becoming, it was hard work for me, school and study was something that I found difficult, but eventually after being accepted and working extremely hard I graduated as a doctor from the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland,” he said.
“While at college, I met and became friendly with an American who suggested that when I graduated, I could join him and work in Honolulu, which I did.
“On arriving in Honolulu, I soon fell in love with both the surf and the weather.
“I even bought a surf board and learned to surf.
“But, like all good things, my time in Honolulu didn’t last.
“My family were back in England and while I’m not sure why it was that I felt the need to go back, but go back I did.”
Dr Gordon said went to work at his father’s practice, but after a year of being back and a terribly miserable winter, it was time to head to a place with a warmer climate.
His sister, who was also a doctor, had moved to South Africa and the thought of warmer weather and the chance of getting a surf made it an easy decision.
Not long after Dr Gordon touched down in South Africa, his parents decided to return to his place of birth.
Soon after moving to South Africa he met his wife Anna with whom they had two sons.
Dr Gordon’s father, on his return to South Africa, became one of the doctors who looked after Nelson Mandela who had been in jail on Robben Island and served 27 years for being a political activist.
“It was during apartheid; there was extreme poverty in a very disenfranchised population,” he said.
“I remember there was a time when my father, who was the jail doctor was visiting Mandela, managed to get a chair with a back and a straw mattress for him to sleep on.
“On his next visit he was sacked and told that was not what you did and reminded that Nelson Mandela was a prisoner.”
Fast forward to 1973, Dr Gordon and Anne knew a better way of life for their family awaiting in Australia and after 45 years in South Africa they decided to relocate as well.
“It took me 12 months to get permission to work in Australia,” he said.
“When I did, I was offered a job with Mallee District Aboriginal Services in Mildura.
“We’d never heard of Mildura; we looked at a map, saw where it was and were told that it had a Mediterranean climate.
“Along with the fact that one son was now living in Adelaide and the other in Sydney, it was close to half way between both, so it was a no brainer, the best decision we have ever made.”
On arrival in Mildura, Dr Gordon worked for four years with MDAS, before becoming part of the newly opened medical centre at Buronga, where he worked for two years before he spent a further two years at the Ararat Correctional Facility.
Now comfortably settled into what only could only be described as a very busy retirement, Dr Gordon and Anna are continuing to enjoy their lives in Mildura.
“Age is only a number, the secret to good life is to keep busy,” he said.
