Col Webster: inspiration for Genealogists for Families

Joan Miller (co-captain of 'Genealogists for Families') has asked me to write about my father, Col Webster, who was the inspiration for this project.

Col Webster at the age of 86

Colin Clifford Webster (son of William Donald Webster and Florence Hudson) was born in 1919. He was proud of the fact that he had the same address for seventy years ("Plain View", Cunnamulla, Queensland, Australia - an outback grazing property where he raised sheep and cattle). My sisters and I grew up there too. Dad loved the land and the way of life, and some of his reminiscences are in Outback Story.

In 1989 my parents moved to southeast Queensland. Before my mother died in 1996, she said, "Your father will be lonely. Promise me you'll visit him often." That was an easy promise to keep, as I was only an hour's drive away and I enjoyed Dad's company. We worked together in the garden, he taught me about birds, we swapped books and we talked for hours.

Dad was quiet, unassuming, kind and considerate, with a great sense of humour. He was a true gentleman who lived his whole life with honesty, integrity, compassion and generosity.

He loved to give away fruit, vegetables and flowers from his large garden; and he was also generous in less conventional ways. A few weeks before Christmas, Dad and I would go to the local country markets where one of the stalls sold homemade goodies to raise money for charity. Dad would pay for a Christmas cake or pudding and tell the stallholder to give it to the next person who came by.

For as long as I can remember, my father set aside a sum of money that he would periodically lend to a hard-working person in urgent need of help. We called it his 'Do Good Money'. Dad passed away last year at the age of ninety, and I want to honour his memory by continuing his tradition. That is why I joined Kiva and established the 'Genealogists for Families' project.

My father was my friend and my hero, and I miss him. If his story can inspire others to join Genealogists for Families and establish the 'Do Good' tradition in their own lives, the world will be a better place.