MILKINS – Fred

Dad, what can I say. I know everyone says they have the best Dad in the world but I truly believe that I did.
You provided us with the best childhood and I will always remember the good times we had – going on holidays; learning to water ski (even if it was out of jealousy of my brothers being able to ski when I couldn’t); teaching me how to drive; coaching my basketball team; going on the milk round with you and stopping at Gunns Gully to get snow balls to eat with our bottle of milk. I have so many memories and I will cherish them forever.
We were both tarred with the same brush (or in our case, the same blood type running through our veins) and neither of us liked to lose an argument and we both liked to have the last word.
You were tough on us if we did something wrong but you were also loving.
You taught us to respect others; you taught us right from wrong.
I am who I am today because of you and Mum.
And thank you – thank you for everything you did for me and for being there through the good times and the bad times and thank you for being a wonderful Father-in-law to Peter and a fantastic Granddad to Kate.
I will miss you and I will always love you.
Bye Dad
Lots of love – Lorraine (“Midge”)

On behalf of all the Levy family , we have some fantastic memories of Freddie from his humour to teaching us to ski at lake king . Rest in peace Freddie, it was great knowing you xx

My Grandad was the best Grandad in the world and he was my first and longest best friend.
He is still the most caring, kind and cheeky man that I know.
I have way too many memories with Grandad to list here today but what I can say is from the moment I was born until the time he got sick he was a constant support in my life and was always there with me.
Anything I needed was never too much for him. He taught me how to swim; did endless school runs all throughout child care and primary school and always made sure that he had leftover wicked wings in the fridge for me when I came home in the afternoon.
He’s a part of almost all of my favourite memories and although he may have forgotten me in recent times, I will never forget him and nothing will ever break the bond that we have.
He was truly a “one of a kind” and I feel so privileged and proud to have had him in my life and to call him my Grandad.
I know that he will always be with me and will be watching over me every day.
I love you so much Grandad.
Love Lulu

My fondest memories with Grandad would have to be our family holiday to the caravan in Eden. On these trips Grandad would take Dad and I out on his beloved boat “Milky Way”.
I can’t have been more than 3 years old when Grandad entered me in a local fishing competition. I’m not really sure I did much of the actual catching of the fish but thanks to Grandad I won my first trophy on that trip!
One memory in particular that stands out from those holidays is at night when Grandad and I would sit and eat chocolate together in the caravan. Whenever the chocolate would run out Grandad would get me to stare at this “magic” painting and wish 3 times for more chocolate to appear. When I looked back, the bowl would once again be filled with delicious treats. I was absolutely and completely convinced that this painting was in fact magic and it wasn’t until many years later that I realised it was Grandad the whole time.
In my memory, “Grandad Freddy” will always be a man who enjoyed life. He loved fishing, golf, playing in his band but most of all he loved making his grandkids happy.
I could go on about all of the little things he did for us as kids to make us all laugh but I will let my sister and my cousins give you some of the many examples.
So, Rest In Peace Grandad.
You will always be loved and missed by all of us.

A letter to Granddad (this was sent to him before he passed away)

It is uncomfortable realising that your time here has come to an end.
Over two decades you have been with me and while we lived far apart, you were never distant in my heart.
You meant a great deal to me. You were funny, kind and loving.
My fondest memories of you was our time spent together, just you and me.
You introduced me to golf by cutting down an old driver for me. I used it to hit golf balls into the gully for the Emu to eat and to accidentally hit those same golf balls at you, ruining your poor knee. You used to put me on the seat of your electric golf buggy as we headed down the fairway.
You always made me feel included and special.
I am grateful to have had you in my life and to have called you my “Granddad”.
I love you; you love me; we’re a happy family; with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you; won’t you say you love me too.
I love you, Granddad.
Good bye.

My memories of Granddad —-
He used to sit me (and maybe other grandkids – I don’t know or can’t remember) on his lap and he would be “Granddad” with his glasses on and “Freddy” when I pushed them up off his head.
He made Kate and I cardholders so we could play UNO and other card games with him. We had small hands so couldn’t hold all the cards in them.
We played “Elf – Elf Bowling” on his old and very slow box computer. I still haven’t been able to find that game again.
And I remember his car plates and golf ball collections.

My favourite memory of Granddad was the time we (Buzz and I) spent a whole week with Granddad and Grandma.
Granddad took Buzz and I up to Walhalla on the train.
We saw “sleeping” wombats on the side of the road and I still remember the trees and the drive up the mountain. The road wound around them. It rained but it never ruined our day.

A message to Grandad (this was written for him before he passed away)
Dear Grandad,
There are no words to describe my feelings about your soon to be passing.
All that I can say is that I will never forget how you taught me to shake hands with another man – “Always with a firm grip and look in their eyes.”.
The world truly lost an amazing person whom I cherished dearly and I’m truly sorry that I took our time together for granted. I always knew this day would come and I can honestly say I’m not ready for you to go, although you have forgotten me.
I will never forget you Grandad. I will never forget your fierce firm nature; your kind heart; your lovable smile and how safe I felt when hugging you.
I love you Grandad. You didn’t deserve this illness – you deserved better and I hope to God that when you pass you are at peace; with no pain; no suffering – just peace because that’s what you deserve.
I will miss you Grandad. I hope you are proud of the man that I have become because I definitely know I was proud of you.

When I think of Grandad I think about someone that cared deeply for others and did things for others without expecting anything in return. I think of someone who gave things a go in life whether it’s sport, or music, drawing or even being in a film. You name it, he tried it!
While there are lots of memories with Grandad, one that stands out the most and still makes me laugh is Grandad teaching me how to play UNO when I was about 7 years old. The aim of this game is to be the first person to get rid of all your cards. Once Grandad had taught me, I was winning every time and Grandma was in shock.
The best part of it was that Grandad was teaching me how to subtly put down 2 or 3 cards at once without anyone noticing, and when that wasn’t an option, he taught me how to throw cards under the table to get rid of them quickly. It wasn’t until months later when we were playing and Grandma found a whole bunch of cards under the table and realised I wasn’t amazing at UNO after all!
I still remember Grandad smiling at me every time I got away with it, and him laughing at me so much throwing almost my whole hand of cards under the table and no-one noticing and having to pretend we were laughing at something else. UNO became our thing and years later when I was a teenager and Grandma and Grandad would come to visit, we would sit there and play UNO for hours like no time had passed at all.
Even after Grandad got sick he still remembered the rules and how to play UNO. Still winning, maybe even still cheating!
My fondest memories with Grandad were simple things like Grandad showing us how to feed the emu over the fence of their house. Grandad drawing pictures for me and me being in shock over how he could draw something so quickly and make it look so perfect or helping him in his veggie patch and him letting us pick the food out and eat it and showing me how to feed his worms which was strangely enjoyable.
Even at young age, I could pick up on the fact that Grandad cared for others and that’s what made him so special to be around.
One day I went to his house and he had built his puppy, Suzie, a kennel that looked like a mini house with a window cut out of the wood for Suzie to look out of. Something about the sight of a puppy staring out of a window in a mini house and knowing that Grandad had thought to build her that made me love him even more.
Things like this made Grandad who he was. He would do things for people or for animals that couldn’t return the favour and the thing was he didn’t expect anything in return.
I will always remember him as someone who did kind things for others, a giver and someone who tried things in life and never just stuck to one thing.
Grandad’s life was filled with love and good energy because that’s what he gave out to others.
He will be sadly missed by all that knew him but will now rest peacefully having lived a full life and will forever be in our hearts and memories.

My favourite memory of Granddad is him letting me drive down to the shops when we were living in Capel in the Pintara and then taking me over to the oval and teaching me to do “burn outs” and “hand brakeys” while everyone was out.
Also, we trudged through the paddocks flipping cow manure over to get fresh worms and then taking me out fishing and catching Black Bream.