George Cavner.THERE were many times when work was intermittent and money was short, that George Cavner’s ability as a boxer helped him survive.
This same fight and determination kept him going for nearly 96 years.
George, or Gramps to his family, died in Dandenong Hospital on 23 June 2005.
He was born on 14 July 1909 in Leicester, England, the eldest of nine children. At one point the family lived in a street where six houses shared one yard, one toilet and one tap.
He once related a tale about a night when his parents were busy in the shop, and he and two of his brothers sneaked past the counter and walked three miles to the local fairground.
There the boys earned three pennies each picking up the balls that patrons had thrown at coconuts. The problem was that they had to stay until after midnight, when the fair closed, to receive their wages.
They not only got plenty of knocks on the head from the balls being thrown, they also got a belting from their frantic parents when they got home.
George was sacked from his job when he took the day off to attend his mother’s funeral.
George had a great sense of justice and he once came to the aid of a young boy who was being bullied. George took on the bully and finished up with a black eye and a damaged nose, while the bully hardly had a mark on him.
It was only later that George discovered he had taken on the school’s boxing champion.
After the experience his father arranged for a retired boxer to train him.
George married Rose on 20 April 1935. They had four children, Norman in 1936, June in 1938 and Valerie and Patricia born during the war.
George was very proud of the fact that his children gave him 14 grandchildren, who in turn gave him 27 great grandchildren and three greatgreat grandchildren.
George and Rose came to Australia with June, Val and Pat around 1955, leaving Norman and his new wife Stella in England.
George worked for the SEC at Newborough for a while, then moved to Box Hill and returned to lift erecting.
A few years later, George and Rose bought their house in Doveton, where he worked at GMH as a maintenance fitter.
After six months he contracted lead poisoning and he spent the next 17 weeks, and his 50th birthday, in hospital, paralysed from the waist down for most of that time.
His luck changed in 1965 when he won a car in the Herald Sun Ball Competition. While celebrating his win at the Village Green Hotel, he bought a Tatts ticket with people they had met over dinner and they won 1000 pounds between them.
Just before his 80th birthday, he found a lump under his arm but did not mention it so as not to mar the coming celebrations.
After his birthday he visited his doctor who diagnosed a cancerous lymph gland and scheduled George for surgery the next week.
This turned out to be a very sad time as Rose passed away the day before the operation. They had been married for 54 years.
George was a long time member of the Berwick Bowling Club and remained active in bowls until 2004.
