Celebrating an adventurous man who lived for his family
LATE Innisfail grandfather Cosmo Bufi was a man always on the front foot seeking adventures, family time and “doing whatever it took” to provide for his family.
Survived by his four children and seven grandchildren, September 22 marked 27 years to the day, when he passed doing what he loved, says widow Barbara.
“Cosmo was never happier than when he was fishing and camping,” she said.
The couple were en route to Lakefield National Park for a camping trip with friends when a flat tyre brought them to a halt just after Laura.
Mr Bufi who’d previously suffered a heart attack had forgotten his hydraulic jack and was tirelessly working a smaller, less effective one.
“He started to look a bit funny so I went around to get his heart tablets,” Ms Bufi said.
“By the time I came back he had passed out. Another couple with a radio managed to call the Flying Doctor but it was too late. I never went to Lakefield again.”
Mr Bufi was born in Italy in 1929 and raised alone by his mother Anna, while father Nichola was cutting timber for hotels in the Far North.
“While Nichola was sending money back from here, Anna had just enough to pay for the basics. It was real tough.
“She had a real special bond with Cosmo because she’d spent eight years alone with him. She would tell me she had just enough money for rent, some real food for Cosmo and she would have stale bread with hot water to soften it a bit.”
Mr Bufi who left school at the age of 14 was known as a jack of all trades and worked in many professions, finishing as a backhoe contractor.
Ms Bufi said they met at a dance in Innisfail and it was Mr Bufi’s motorbike and leather jacket that won her over.
She said she remembered him as a “very convivial, gregarious man”.
“He loved to have a talk. He loved nothing better than a big company of people all talking at the tops of their voices. He loved telling stories about things and he loved fishing.”