The ride of his life

Jack Munro is supposed to be slowing down now that he is retired but he continues to lead a busy lifestyle.
Residing at Meadowvale Retirement Village in Pakenham for the past three years, the 75yearold has continued his lifelong tendency towards committee work which has earned him the unofficial title of the village mayor.
“I was first on a committee at probably 16 or 17 at the Kew Bike Club and then I moved to the Richmond Bike Club,” Jack said.
“I got away from it when I dislocated my shoulder in 1953 and then didn’t do anything until 1962 when I went on the social committee, and I’ve been involved ever since.
“It’s just because I like to keep busy and I like to try and help people, that’s my main aim.
“As long as I can help people to have a better life, then I try to do that.”
This habit has led to an unusual claim to fame, though.
“I was delivering newspapers as a sevenyearold and I’m still delivering them,” he said, in reference to his 5am rises at Meadowvale.
“I’m the oldest delivery boy around.”
Jack was born in 1931 in Kew as the youngest of five boys and a girl, and started work at a post office at 14 “just to get out of going to school”, he said.
It was the beginning of a myriad of occupations for him, ranging from a drainer to a sales manager, and an eventful life.
Any mention of his life must include sport which has had a major impact on his life and those around him.
“Bike riding was my first love until I dislocated my shoulder and I couldn’t afford to fall on that,” he said.
“My father was a bike rider and all of my brothers were bike riders.
“I’ve also played football, tennis and golf and, since I’ve been at Meadowvale, I’ve taken up bowls mainly as a social thing.”
He has had a successful sporting career but his greatest impact in the field has been on others.
His sporting passion has been passed on to his children and, through his coaching and committee work, he has been a force in junior and senior football, in particular.
“Both of my sons are very much involved in football,” Jack said.
“One of my sons (Lex) is coaching down at Phillip Island.
“Brett, the oldest one, played in a grand final in 1982 and played over 300 games of senior football.
“Now he’s an assistant coach and does all the matchups at Carlton.”
He lists one of his career highlights as the significant achievement of adapting the rules in junior football.
He said the previous rules left some young players at a disadvantage because they were less able.
“Some kids could run the length of the field because they were so good and I went to the Victorian Football League, at that particular stage, and said I thought these rules needed to be changed for kids,” Jack said.
“Kids have got to bring other kids into it, so they told me to go home and work on it.
“So I did and it was in 1973 or ‘74 that we changed it and it was changed all over Victoria, that in Under12s and younger, that if a kid got the ball he could run and bounce it once and then he had to handball or kick it.
“He could do that and pick it up again but he could only have one bounce and then pass it off. I think that was a turning point of kids’ football.”
His life has also been notable for its setbacks.
He has required operation after operation in retirement and his ailments earlier in his life ranged from a dislocated shoulder to a fractured spine which he got when a brick fell on his back from 40 feet up.
The dislocated shoulder was a hidden treasure, though, in hindsight.
“What they’d done the first time (it was dislocated) was tie it up with nylon,” Jack said.
“It was a new technique they had but when I stretched my shoulder it just stretched all the nylon again.
“After another two or three months I saw another specialist in Melbourne and he immediately operated again.
“He stuck screws in and that was probably the turning point in Reney’s (his wife, Irene) and my life.
“The doctor came in on the Saturday morning and said he had to take the screw out.
“He couldn’t find a sister, so he got what I called a pair of pliers and tried to pull it out.
“He got a hold of this screw but he couldn’t get it out. So he just said ‘you pull one side and I’ll pull that one’.
“The nurse almost had a heart attack when she walked in at that particular stage.
“I had a friend in there listening to the football with me and I just said ‘I think you better go home, I don’t feel too good’.
“It turned into pneumonia and they thought I was going to die.”
At that stage he had just met his future wife who lived in Sydney.
“They got in touch with Reney and asked her to come down from Sydney. That cemented our relationship.”
Jack obviously came through his illness and half a century later after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in March this year, the couple are as happy as ever.
“We just enjoyed the company of everyone who was here. It was a really great day; we thoroughly enjoyed it.”
He said the festivities left him worn out.
“I enjoyed it so much I was tucked into bed at about seven o’clock that night!” Jack said and laughed.
Meadowvale has played a major role in his contentedness with life.
“The staff are really, really caring people,” he said.
“The other day when I was sick, my wife rang at half past seven in the morning and we had the carer up within five minutes.
“May (the manager at Meadowvale) is just so passionate about her job.”
It seems the feeling is mutual.
The manager, May CroxfordRosewell said: “He will go and speak to people and I’ll say ‘there’s a really silly issue but could you approach it?’ and he does.
“Small issues can grow into big ones, so to have someone to stop that happening makes things a lot easier.”
While Jack has led a substantial life and lists many high points, one stands out.
“The biggest highlights I’ve had are my grandkids,” he said.
“They are three of the best kids anywhere; I think I’ve got three of the best.”
Despite numerous setbacks, he has proven the old adage that you can’t keep a good man down.