JAMES PATRICK PAYTON –
10/06/1934- 11/10/ 2013
79 Years
James Patrick Payton was born at Greta on the 10th June 1934, the eldest child of Arthur and Kathleen (Brady) Payton. James lived at Lamb’s Creek on the family farm. James was only 18months old when his mother Kathleen passed away after a riding accident. James was then reared by his paternal grandmother Mary Amelda Hayes. Like all farm kids, James learnt to milk cows and before school each day he would milk 5 cows and take the milk on horse and cart from the dairy. James attended the school at Stanhope and later the school at Dalwood. Like many children at that time he rode his horse to school with his friends, Pat Boland, Frank and Fonzie Peter and Carmel and Brian Enright.
James told many a tale about his childhood days in which he made frequent mention of the times he spent with his Uncle Pat and Uncle Basil. James especially remembered the time when Uncle Pat’s car broke down on the day of the wedding.
James’s father Arthur married Yvonne Jeans in 1941 and James became the big brother to 11 brothers and sisters: Brian, June, Wayne, Sheryl, Lynette, Dianne, Garry, Debra, Peter, Kathy, and Helen. When James was 13 he went to live and work with Uncle Basil. James worked with Uncle Basil for about a month and then got a job at the Burlington Mill at Rutherford. During the years that James lived and worked in and around the Maitland area he turned his hand to many different jobs and was very rarely out of work. To quote James, “jobs were easy to get but I think I was lucky, I never had any problems working for people, I always made it work well.”
The jobs James was most proud of during this time of life were working on the Glenbawn Dam, buying and breaking in young horses and working at the Masonite Factory at Raymond Terrace.
James bought his first motorbike at Melville, it was a 1934 BSA, which he kept for a while then he bought a Royal Enfield. James continued his love for motorcycles during his younger life buying quite a few.
In 1953, James was called up for the National Service for the Army; he served from 30th April 1953 to 30th April 1958 in CMF (Citizen Military Forces). After his national service James went to Singleton to share farm with his brother Brian for Mrs Jackson. It was at this time James met the love of his life and future wife, Mahdi Hoad. James and Mahdi came to Taree in 1961 and were married on 31st December 1963. The couple lived with Mahdi’s family at Coopernook. James started working for Frank Longworth stripping seed and continued this work for 5 years while also doing various other jobs, whatever was going around at the time. In 1965/1966 James and Mahdi bought a house in Coopernook and settled there. James and Mahdi reared 6 children Jill, Darren, Tracey, Tony, Scott and Tanya. At this time James was working at Mitchell’s Island at the Corkwood Factory (Old Butter Factory) filtering stringy bark leaf and firing the boiler, working 12 hour shifts doing 2 men’s work. He would then go out cutting wood for 2-3 hours; he did this for 3 years and ended up in Hospital on Coronary Care for 10 days.
The family moved to 9 Ann Street in July 1974. Ill health forced James into early retirement. Even though James was unable to work, he filled his days with many hobbies. James’s interests included C-B radios and he had several which he used to talk to friends on every day. James also spent time fixing lawn mowers and he was that good at it he probably could’ve done it with his eyes closed. James was also a man of many gadgets. He could often be found in his shed making something to make something else work better. One example in particular is when James and his mate Gordon who lived up the street, came up with the idea to run wires up all the neighbours back fences to hook up a buzzer system. James and Gordon each had a buzzer and would buzz each other when they wanted to talk or just check they were ok. James also had a great interest in breeding budgerigars and with his son Tony, spent many happy days cleaning cages, checking eggs and matching up the breeding pairs. The local budgerigar club held a few local shows and some of their birds were quite successful.
James managed to keep up with technology and computers became a very important part of his life. Starting out with a commodore 64 and updating each time a new system was invented. James liked nothing better than having a game of Yahtzee with whoever was up to the challenge and many a challenge took place. James very rarely lost at Yahtzee but if he did there was always a rematch.
James greatest pleasure was music. As a young boy he would wind up the gramophone and listen to Tex Morton, Buddy Williams and Wilf Carter. When he was 14 he bought a button Accordion and sometimes played with Ron and Lyn Brady at the dance Hall. When James was older he had guitar lessons with Norm Giles and later on met a country singer Jacqueline Hall. When visiting James it was not uncommon to hear him playing along to a record or tape and later on cd’s. Country music was his favourite and Slim Dusty was played quite often. He had a large collection of different artists and really enjoyed listening and playing along. Many a sing along was had by family and friends, and James continued to play his guitar every chance he could.
James and Mahdi had been married 31 years when on the 14th September 1995 Mahdi suddenly passed. Family, neighbours and friends helped to fill the void in James’s life and in time James continued to enjoy his life. During this time new grandchildren and great grandchildren arrived to add to those he already had. He enjoyed seeing every one of them and he affectionately became known as pops by all.
James had the experience to on a day trip with his son Darren and relive all his memories of Lamb’s Creek where he grew up and all the places around and about where he used to live and work. This trip was a great day for James and one he never forgot. It really was a highlight of his later years.
James continued to live in Ann Street until 2007 when he decided to move to a unit with an old family friend who needed some help and care. James cared for Grace for 2 years until her health deteriorated. In 2010 James moved to Hayes Lane at Taree Estate to live, in his words, “on the farm with Tony and Lorraine.” During the 3 ½ years he was there, it was home, and he became connected to and much loved by new friends and was adopted by Lorraine’s grandchildren as their poppy. They were accepted as part of his family and he treated them just like he did his own many grandchildren and great grandchildren and he loved nothing better than to see the happy smiling faces of all his many little ones.
In the last 6 months, James’s health started to steadily deteriorate and he was unable to get out and about as he would’ve liked. He still tried to enjoy things as much as he could, but he steadily lost interest in most of the things he used to do. On Friday 4th October 2013, James was admitted to Manning Base Hospital and he passed peacefully on Friday 11th October 2013 surrounded by his loving children. He was 79 years old. James Payton was a simple man who lived a contented life. James was a loving husband, a loving father, a proud poppy and loyal friend. He was always ready with a helping hand if one was needed, and always had time for a chat. James was a man of his word, kind and trustworthy. A man with a ready smile and a heart of gold, a man who appreciated the simple things of life. James will be very much missed by all his family, extended family and close friendships, and will always have a special place in everyone’s hearts and memories. He was well liked and respected. He was very much a gentle man as well as a gentleman. You were tops pops. We love you. Rest in Peace Pop.