A former Tumby Bay resident recently brought up a milestone.
Born on February 26, 1945 in Tumby, Ross Fatchen celebrated his 80th birthday in Victor Harbor.
While life has not always been kind to Ross, his joyful spirit and indomitable faith have carried him through – he is especially well known as a bit of a treasure hunter – of objects and of people.
Ross spent his early years in Tumby Bay, he was adopted by his mother’s first cousin and grew up with his siblings before the children were moved to Adelaide to be educated at Croydon Primary and Croydon Technical College.
A practical man, Ross pursued his woodwork apprenticeship at 16, but shortly after, the company he was meant to work with went bust.
Around the same time, Ross went to one of the Billy Graham Crusades – an enormously popular evangelist in the mid to late 1900s – where he converted to Christianity.
“God is amazing, he talks to me and I am a follower of him,” Ross said.
“But actually, I’ve probably been hurt by more people in the church than by anyone else.
“But I still love God and do my best to love others.”
Ross made the decision to return home as a young man and join a spare parts company in Port Lincoln, where he worked for seven years at Chas Geddes.
The company also imported timber and eventually sold its Port Lincoln and Tumby Bay stores in 1980 to Cowell’s Timber.
Ross was offered a sum of money to retire and in 1987, he left Port Lincoln for good, after his first marriage of nearly 20 years ended.
“I moved to Adelaide then and got a job working at the TAFE as a general hand,” he said.
Ross worked at TAFE sites all across the region, including Croydon Park, Port Adelaide and Elizabeth.
“Elizabeth was a terrible place to live back then, I had my car windows smashed in and things stolen – I made the decision to sell that house and move into a private rental, a former housing trust home,” he said.
In 1994, Ross met his wife Christine.
“God kept the best till last,” Ross said.
“Life has taught me that when you have a good thing – don’t let it go.”
Christine was from Port Pirie and Ross quickly set to work finding a job so he could join her, but after a bout of glandular fever and liver damage from hepatitis, Ross was ordered by the doctor to move back to somewhere with a cooler climate.
“Victor Harbor was recommended,” he said.
“Back then, if you were on the dole and looking for work, the government wouldn’t let you move to an area with higher unemployment or you would lose the payment.”
Despite that, Ross beat the statistics and after he and Christine moved, he found a job in a month – first as a cleaner at Uniting Care and then later, doing work with Veterans’ Affairs.
Ross retired at 72 and while he admits loneliness is hard, he is surrounded by a loving community, many of whom joined in his 80th celebrations on February 26 and March 1 at Victor Harbor Lutheran Church.
“I am grateful that Jesus has taken me just as I am,” Ross said.
