Just a couple of weeks after I caught up with my old school mate Garth Robinson, I received a call out of the blue from another old chum, Chris Pettit. I'd seen Chris at a Pittwater High School reunion about 6 years ago so it was nice to hear from him.
But Chris told me that another of our old mates, Geoff Sheehan, had succumbed to skin cancer just a few months ago. This was a great shock as Geoff had been a great friend and although we'd not touched base for about 12 months I had no idea he had passed on. We would catch up every year or so and Geoff was always caught up in some high profile venture, the last being involved with the Packers in Vanuatu online gambling.
Geoff was a real character and his claim to fame was when he was a fighter pilot in the RAAF at Williamtown, he was on a low-level sortie along the coast down to Nowra in a Maachi jet. Of course his track took him past our old hometown of Newport so, as he flew past at about 200 feet he decided to buzz the guys at the Newport Arms. He did this not once but a couple of times and he did the same thing the next day.
The RAAF were not amused so he was given the option, fly a desk for a couple of years or resign. Geoff being Geoff decided to pursue another career so it was with sadness that he clipped his own wings.
By the way, as Chris tells the story, Geoff had a skin discolouration which, like most blokes, he didn't get checked out. When it was finally diagnosed as cancerous he lived just 2 weeks. There's a warning there.
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