Jamberoo’s Geoff Downes has been remembered as a man of great integrity and someone who dedicated his life to his family, his community and his church.
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Mr Downes lived his entire life in Jamberoo and passed away on September 3 after a long illness.
Born on May 20, 1935 he attended school in Jamberoo and Kiama before taking up dairying with his father after leaving school.
In a moving eulogy, life-long friend Ray Swan said his life could be defined by love of family, his faith, the dairy industry and his community involvement in Jamberoo - the valley that he loved.
“He farmed at Roo View all his life and my earliest memories of Geoff are when we used to take the milk in cans to Jamberoo factory - it was always a race to get the milk down to the factory before it closed. Downses and Swans were known for getting there at the last minute, but we would always make an effort to beat each other,” Mr Swan said.
“He farmed at Roo View with his father and his brothers, Gordon and John and had an extremely close relationship with his father.
“Although his father died in 1974, Geoff never really stopped missing him - his father was Geoff’s best person - the person he wanted to spend his time with.
“Fortunately Geoff had many other people in his life to love and who loved him, especially his wife of 48 years Beth, daughters Kathryn, Alison and Julie and his granddaughters.”
“He recognised the difference between a farmer and a cattleman - Geoff considered himself a cattleman and his love of animals reflected in the way he cared for them.”
Mr Downes loved showing the Roo View cattle, achieving great success with Josephine 15, described by him as ‘a once in a life time cow’, being awarded champion cow at Sydney Royal three times. Her daughter Josephine 25 was also a big ribbon winner as was her son Roo View Senator, winning many championship ribbons.
He made a wonderful contribution to the Albion Park Show Society, serving 49 year on the committee, which included seven years as president, which included presiding over the Centenary show celebrations. Geoff was honoured with life membership for his dedication and work for the society.
He was a director of the Jamberoo Co-operative Dairy factory and later at Shoalhaven Dairy Co-op when Jamberoo and Nowra combined as well as being an accomplished judge.
As a young man he was a member of the rural fire brigade and fought in the 1968 fires, played rugby league for Jamberoo, being in the 1958 premiership side and represented Group 7 in the under-18 side and also served his required time in National Service.
“Geoff was a man of faith, he loved his God and his church, and this was the framework for his life. He was a warden at St Matthews for a number of years. He was a man who attended church, not because he had to, but because he wanted to,” Mr Swan added.
