Message from Stephen Shaw:
Subject: Don Wade.
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:23:06 +1000
Hi.
I had a phone call a couple of days ago from Don Wade’s sister Jill, to tell me that today the Coroner’s Court will hold an inquest on Don, and declare him deceased, as it is over 30 years since there has been any contact with him. The police are assuming he took his own life, which had never occurrd to Charlie and me, though it should have, given his mental state when we last saw him…..he was hearing voices, and getting messages from number plates etc etc.
It’s all very sad….we felt that with the right medical treatment, Don would have lived a productive, normal life, but he didn’t get it. Jill is, of course, quite upset, but I think she doesn’t accept what a bad state Don was in. We’d never met her, btw, but Don talked of her quite a bit.
I’m not sending this with a view to publicising it, but the notice of the inquest is on the Govt website, so it’s public knowledge.
Hope you’re all fit and well,
Steph.
3 Comments
I remember Don being a quiet recluse and he was always a bit odd and out of the mould for the Paddington set. He worked as a tech in ITMC Paddington in the late 1970s. Can’t remember him after that. I seem to remember him moving to a hippy type lifestyle somewhere north of Sydney in the late 1970s or early 80s.
Comment from Ben McGee
Don was in our year of trainees and I knew him well in the early days. He was more quiet and thoughtful than the others then.
I understand his mental health did deteriorate over the years but I had lost touch.
I imagine that if he chose to end it all without trace, then no one will find him. He was quite intelligent.
Cheers (sad news) Ben
Don returned to Paddington from Guam at about the same time I returned from Madang in 1971. I was impressed by his quiet attitude to work and the way he went about analysing problems. I’ve often thought of him over the years and am sorry he’s disappeared.
Sad news, indeed.