Last ride for much-loved truckie

GLENN “HAVA CHAT” WARD ONE of the characters of Townsville’s trucking industry, Glenn “Hava Chat” Ward, has been remembered as a prankster and good Samaritan who liked nothing better than helping people.

Glenn Ward operated Wards Tilt Truck Service and passed away, aged 61, after an illness.

His service at the Woongarra Crematorium on August 6 was attended by more than 400 people.

Glenn Ward, born in Mackay on January 16, 1958, was a bright, mischievous boy.

His mother could never figure out why there was a dead patch of grass outside his bedroom window until she caught him urinating.

He spent time in Mount Isa, Cloncurry and Dajarra, with his father, boarding in the Djarra hotel.

A hard worker, Glenn would clean the pub and do odd jobs to help pay his board.

After leaving school at Year 10 in Cloncurry, he worked as a jackaroo, learning many aspects of station life.

This included how to break a horse, fencing, concreting, using a rifle, welding, changing tyres and working on engines.

He was self-taught and very able when it came to fixing things, turning his hand to anything.

He joined the army, serving with the 9th Transport Unit, where he developed his love of trucks and trucking.

He also landed the role of driving for the brigadier at Lavarack Barracks.

Glenn Ward worked with Poultneys and Greyhound before deciding to go into business for himself, first with an Enzed franchise and then by establishing Wards Tilt Truck Service.

His wife Colletta said her husband developed a large clientele through sheer hard work, cream buns and cups of tea.

“He always said buying six cream buns and popping into businesses for a cup of tea was the best public relations ever. So he got the name of ‘Hava Chat’,” Colletta said.

“Sometimes he would ring me and say ‘put the billy on, I’ll be home in a minute’, and then not turn up for two hours as he had met someone on the way and was having a chat.” He was always helping someone, whether it was for neighbours, for people in Innisfail after Cyclone Larry hit and on one occasion he stopped for three days on a trip to Cape York to weld a cattle truck for a property owner.

Diagnosed with cancer late last year, he sold his trucks and the new owners kindly agreed to use them to transport his coffin to the crematorium. Colletta said that her husband would have loved the last ride in his truck, which was accompanied by a convoy of trucks with their lights flashing and horns honking.