NORM HARDINGE – AUSSIE DESERT COOLERS

“I MET JP over 20 years ago. We had a yack and I thought he seemed like a good sort of a bloke. I didn’t get a name, so I asked who he was and was told that he was John Peterson – a very good friend and a very bad enemy. I never saw the bad side, but he became a very good friend to my wife Vicki and me.

“When we were setting up our core manufacturing facility, we found a plant for sale in Sydney to buy. We scraped together everything we could to get it. John wanted to know all about it and said: ‘If you need a hand, just ring me.’

“So I went to the hire place, gave them my licence and said: ‘Give me the biggest truck I can get on my licence.’ We set off and when we get to Tarcutta, the cops pull us over and tell me I’m not licensed to drive this truck and I’ll be arrested if I proceed. Vicki thought to call John, and he went straight around to the hire company to explain to them the error of their ways. They gave him a hire car to come up to Tarcutta. Vicki and Max the dog went back in the hire car and John drove the truck to Sydney, helped me load the gear and drive back. That’s the kind of guy he was, just off a phone call.

“Later he came to work for us, but we never felt like he was our employee. We always felt that he’d taken us under his wing. He’d give us advice on all sorts of stuff, and if we needed to know anything, he knew everyone.

“John did a lot of our shows for us and he loved it. At one point, Vicki and I hadn’t had a holiday in 16 years, but we didn’t feel we could leave the place with anyone. So we went to the US for three weeks and JP ran the joint. He said before we left: ‘You won’t hear from me; I’ll just handle it,’ and he did. We got back and and the place was running like clockwork.

“Even up to a couple of weeks ago he had a long phone call with Vicki about what was going on and how he could best help. He was our go-to guy. We’re really going to miss him.”