My previous two columns have centred on being from the west, being proud of it and appreciating some of the great things we have going for us. The most precious of those is the people and this week I want to write about two men who have made enormous contributions to Werribee and the City of Wyndham. One lost his battle with illness last week and the other is fighting a rare neurological condition.
John Nicol passed away recently from cancer. His profile in the City of Wyndham was very high as he was president of Werribee Football Club and a long-standing former city engineer with numerous community involvements: with Rotary, the CFA, Mercy Hospital and the Committee for Wyndham, to name just some.
John embodied those western suburbs qualities I wrote about a few weeks ago – loyalty, respect, generosity and passion. He was a devoted family man and a friend who was with you through thick and thin. He will be sorely missed by everyone who ever had anything to do with him. Vale John Nicol.
Rick Wolany is the other man I want to mention. Rick has been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a condition that affects the brain and its control over walking, eye movement, balance, speech and swallowing. Rick was a larger-than-life personality in Werribee, particularly in the 1990s. He and John both shared a passion for Werribee Tigers, Rick being a major sponsor for many years and instrumental in stopping the club being kicked out of the VFL in 1995.
Hoppers Crossing Sports Club will host an event on Sunday, October 11, to raise funds and awareness for PSP research. Rick’s daughters, Bree and Samantha, will also run in the Melbourne Marathon on October18, in a team called Run4AReason, to raise $25,000 to fund a research fellowship position to look into PSP.
Rick and John were both awarded OAMs, and both made a difference to life in our city.
You can’t do much more than that, can you? ■
