Loving family man
LIKE many good Aussie blokes, Les Mayes loved spending time with his mates with a beer and a meat pie with peas at the footy or the races.
In fact, Les loved beer so much that once he retired from a long and impressive career with Queensland Rail, he and his mate Noel decided they’d try their hands at concocting their own brew. From all reports the results were mixed. The spectacularly explosive failures were balanced out with triumphant successes.
But Les was more than beer connoisseur. He was a family man and dear friend.
Born in the Townsville General Hospital on September 22 1932, Les passed away peacefully on February 7 2017. He’s survived by his devoted wife of 61 years Marie, his children Cathy, Meredith, Chris, Michael, Janice and their partners, his sister Denise, 10 grandchildren, six great grandchildren, a large extended family and many dear friends.
With his upbringing in a working class family growing up in Giru, Les learned the value of hard work. Despite some early promise in his studies that saw him place in the top 10 per cent of the state for chemistry, his family circumstances meant he had to leave school and start work with Queensland Rail after junior school.
For the next 47 years, Les worked in a range of clerical roles over Cairns, Townsville and Toowoomba before moving into trains control and management positions where he worked on large projects such as Abbot Point, Newlands and the Greenvale Line. Later in his career he also moved into senior Cabinet- appointed managerial roles and gained the respect of almost everyone he encountered.
Les also dedicated a large chunk of his life to serving the community. He volunteered for St Vincent de Paul for nearly 50 years in Townsville and Brisbane. He had a strong sense of social justice and did whatever he could to help the most vulnerable members of the community.
But aside from his career and community work Les was a devout family man. He was a loyal husband to Marie and always encouraged her to step outside the traditional role of a wife and pursue her career ambitions. In much the same way he was always behind his children, supporting them in whatever they wanted to do and always beaming with pride.
Although Les’ last few months were intense and tested his and his family’s resolve, they did not define his life. He was a clever man with a dry sense of humour, a wonderful wicked grin and joyful laugh and he will be sorely missed by many.
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