By Pam Kiriakidis
BROADFORD residents Paul Phillips and his wife Raelene watched their grandchild Theodore meet his great-great grandmother for the first time – a gathering of five generations for the family.
Mr Phillips, who felt it was rare for five generations to meet, said the day was spent at his son’s house in Broadford, as well as enjoying a meal at a local hotel.
He said great-great grandmother Dot, Raelene’s grandmother, was thrilled to bits when baby Theodore was in her presence.
“She was over the moon when she saw the little one for the first time. She had a hold of him, and a cuddle, and you couldn’t take the smile off her face,” he said.
Mr Phillips said he cherished the afternoon where his son and wife’s family spent quality time together.
“I know how important it is because I never had much of a family life I guess when growing up. I want them, [my children], to have that, and have the aunties, uncles and grandparents,” he said.
Mr Phillips met the love of his love Raelene at a gathering in Coburg, and learnt that she was from the Kyabram area, where her family moved generations ago from Hahndorf, South Australia, and prior, Germany on her father’s side.
At the time, Mrs Phillips was entering her childhood education career and about to move to Queensland, but the couple’s lives changed when they were expecting their first child about 12 months after meeting.
“We sort of lived at a place in Melbourne for a little while then we got things sorted out and we ended up buying a house in Wallan and … it might have been roughly mid-1990s,” Mr Phillips said.
The family of three lived in Wallan for seven years, adding two more children to the household, then moved to Broadford in 2002.
“We played a lot of sports – they played cricket, rode motorbikes, we’re fortunate enough to have a house in Broadford on two acres. There was plenty of room at the back and we did all sorts of sports at the back,” he said.
While living in the Mitchell Shire, Mr Phillips said the family visited his wife’s side in the Kyabram area on special occasions to continue the family values.
Mr Phillips said all three of his adult sons embraced his teachings of the word family.
“One of the things that I was trying to teach [my boys] was about family values, about how to be kind to people,” he said.
“The three of them are very respectful, we get a lot of comments, especially as the boys were becoming teenagers and young men. The comments we would get from other people were how respectful they are, and how kind and generous.”
