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Our beautiful Dad and Papa, Christopher John Hale, was born in Stourbridge in 1940 – a time of war and chaos – into a world of very strong-willed, but doting, women. Around 1946 Chris went to his first boarding school in Hagley then to Chafyn Grove near Salisbury in 1949, and on to Lancing in 1954. After leaving Lancing in 1958, he moved to Dartmouth to begin pre-naval diving and other training to prepare to join the Royal Navy. From 1959 to January 1964, Chris trained, sailed and toured with the Royal Navy around the Mediterranean, the West Indies and the Middle East. While in the Navy he met Judy Biddy, the sister of his friend Michael Peever. They were married in West Sussex in 1965 and they set off for Australia, along with nine other members of Judy’s family, on board the ocean liner Orcades. With three young cousins keeping a watchful eye on them it wasn’t exactly a honeymoon – but what an adventure. Their first daughter, Sarah, was born in 1966 and some time after this, they bought several blocks of land in Balnarring and began building their dream home. They went on to have two more daughters, Melanie and Vanessa. Chris was totally devoted to his family, commuting to Melbourne and beyond to earn a living, and he and Judy also took in his nephew so that by 1972, they had four children aged six years old and younger! In some respects, Chris was a ‘New Age’ man, way ahead of his time. He had the home and the family he had craved and was a very proud father, uncle and grandfather. Then just when he was starting to talk about retirement, Chris and Judy set off on yet another adventure – this time sailing around the world for five years! It was lovely to see them ‘return home to port’ in Melbourne and to the Mornington Peninsula again, where we all grew up. Dad’s beautiful smile and kind, caring eyes and words, and love of jokes, ditties, googly eyes and laughter will stay in our hearts forever.
Sarah Hale