Keith Fletcher YHS 1938 - passed away peacefully at home on 7.7.2005 and is survived by his loving wife Shirley, 4 children, 3 stepchildren, 18 grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren and sister Joyce Wardley (YHS 1944).
Keith was born to George and Cecilia Fletcher on 5.5.1929 at the Yallourn Hospital and later his sister, Joyce, was born there. Keith loved Yallourn dearly, always looked back on it with great pride and held many happy memories. He always looked forward to the YOGA reunions each year, meeting up with old friends etc and reminiscing old times. He spent his childhood and early adult years in Yallourn and worked with the SEC for 48 years. He did an electrical apprenticeship with the SEC in Yallourn, later moving to the Morwell Briquette/Power Station as an electrician, advancing to shift engineer, a position he held on his retirement in 1987.
Keith married and lived in the married quarters, later building a house in Morwell and had 2 daughters and 2 sons. He later met and married Shirley Copping who had 3 adult children so he had an extended family of 7. On the demise of Yallourn, he bought a house in Newborough where he lived until his death. He was a very keen gardener with a large vegetable garden consisting of over 20 different vegies, also shrubs, flowers etc, and a lawn of which he was very proud.
Keith was one of two men out of 800 applicants selected to go on an expedition to the Antarctic in 1962 wintering at Wilkes Station as an electrician; he spent 15 months there, an experience he often related that money could not buy! Keith and Shirley attended a Wilkes Station reunion in Sydney in April 2005 and although he wasn't well, he enjoyed meeting up with about 13 men from his 1962 trip who were able to go, as well as others he had met during those early 1960's years.
For over 20 years, Keith and Shirley travelled Australia during the winters and spent many happy months in Queensland at Yeppoon, where they had made many friends. Keith enjoyed the local life and helping friends with their boats and going on fishing charter trips with them. He used to say he enjoyed the best of both worlds, north in the winter and south in the summer.
Editor - we will miss Keith very much at our reunions - as Shirley says, he dearly loved catching up with his mates from Yallourn and thoroughly enjoyed the company of both young and old.