Conversation with Joe

Joe lives in a house on the same street as my parents in Lane Cove, NSW.  He is 83 years old. He used to live with his wife, Rosa.  Unfortunately, Rosa passed away 5 years ago.  Joe is a friendly neighbour and was jovial and humorous during our conversation.

Joe was born in England in 1927 and spent some time with the British Royal Navy.  He went into service at the age of 17.5 (this was approximately 6 months before World War II ended) and had the opportunity to travel a bit to the naval bases in Malaysia and also in Singapore in November 1945.  He repaired parts of and cleaned the boiler in the ship.  In some ways, he followed the footsteps of his father, who joined the Territorial Army (part time volunteer reserve force) in 1910 and the British Army in 1914 and again in 1940.

He remembered the bombings in Coventry when he was just 14 years old.  Coventry was, during World War II, singled out for heavy bombing raids, and large areas of the city were destroyed. The air raid sirens during 1940-1941 would go off almost daily and it became a “normal” part of his life, to the point where he “did not take much notice of the sirens”.  As Joe’s dad was away with the British Army during most of World War II, he spent a lot of time with his mother who played an influential part of his life.  Joe was born when his mum was 40 years old (quite late in those days).  His mum “was quite intelligent and had great insight to what she talked about”.  

Joe recalled the signing of the declaration of peace in 1945, ending World War II, as the most memorable event he witnessed.  He was in Lincoln, England then and continued serving in the British Royal Navy after the war ended.

Joe came to Sydney, Australia on or around 28 December, 1960 after a 4 year stint in New Zealand, and met Rosa (a flight attendant with Qantas).  He fell in love with her.  Not long after, they got married in a church in Hunters Hill.  In those days, he told me, one did not have big church weddings, but a number of relatives join in the celebration.  Here is what he had to say about the most important decision in his life:

Joe gave me a surprising response when I asked him what he has gained with age:

Interestingly, Joe was upbeat when asked whether the world has become a better or worse place to live since he was a child.  In the old days, there was no government pension or superannuation unless you worked for a large company. 

Joe gave some insight into the purchase of his Lane Cove home for A$10,000 in the early 1960s with a loan at an interest rate of between 1% to 2% per annum!

(Conversation with Yvonne, a neighbour, February 2011)