Patrons remember an old friend
Sun 13 December 2009
Karis Howard, Bachelor of Journalism
This Christmas will mark the 64th year since a brave navy soldier dared to send the King of England a telegram from a war-ridden sea.
Former navy soldier of the HMAS Hobart Ray Paulson had a knack of bringing people together as he shared his stories every afternoon at a Maroochydore pub before he passed away in 2005.
John ‘Sparky’ Sparkman and Jack McIntyre met through Mr Paulson several years ago, and still meet at the same pub today.
Mr Sparkman, a retired air force engineer, said there is one story Mr Paulson told, from back when he was working on the ship in 1945, that they remember clearly.
“He had the audacity apparently to send the King of England a Christmas card without going through the correct channels,” Mr Sparkman said.
“The reason he got found out was because Buckingham Palace sent a telegram back to the ship which the captain received.
“The hunt was on to see the person from the stoker’s nest that sent the Christmas card.
“Eventually I think Ray owned up and he was taken aside and given a tongue-in-cheek lashing.”
The men chuckled as Mr Sparkman retold the story.
Mr McIntyre, a retired fruit exporter, said they often still talk about Mr Paulson.
“He was a character,” Mr McIntyre said.
Mr Paulson’s life was difficult, and when he found out Mr Sparkman was a self-funded retiree, he made the most of it.
“I would take him shopping, but it was never just a simple trip to the Big Top,” Mr Sparkman said.
“It would be, ‘Oh I’ve got to go to the bank first’, which was another hour.
“We would almost be at his home and ‘I need some pool salt’, so we would have to go up to Fishermans Road.
“In the end, I found it easier to just get his shopping list and do it myself.”
Mr Sparkman said Mr Paulson had lots of friends nearby to help him out when he started to get more unwell.
“He was a bit of a cunning old man, because he prepaid his funeral,” Mr Sparkman said.
Mr McIntyre said they spread his ashes at the Horton Park golf course, where they had once played golf together.
Although Mr Paulson no longer joins Mr Sparkman and Mr McIntyre physically, he will remain the topic of their bar talk for many years to come.
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