Anglesea local honoured for selfless community service

AN ANGLESEA local has received a special gift from a local family as a token of appreciation for looking after their loved one during illness.

Country to Coast Home Care Services staff member Curt Schmeissing received some special lawn bowl whites from a prestigious Anglesea Bowls Club member.

Mr Schmeissing has spent the past three years waking up at 5.30am to take Anglesea lawns bowl champion Geoff Kendall to dialysis appointments in Geelong.

Over this time, the two men forged an incredible friendship by sharing funny stories, talking football and enjoying each other’s company on their journey to the Epworth Hospital.

Mr Kendall, who was widely acclaimed within his bowls club as “the walking encyclopedia of bowls”, even convinced Mr Schmeissing to take up lawn bowls as “his protégé.”

After Geoff’s recent passing, his wife Kaye Kendall presented Mr Schmeissing with Geoff’s prestigious bowls uniform to thank him for his efforts.

Mr Schmeissing said he was overwhelmed by the kind gesture.

“I was so humbled to receive it from Kaye.

“He loved his bowls and his energy was just infectious. He’s infected me with his love for bowls too!

“Geoff loved the rules, the strategy and sharing his wisdom, which led me into playing and me becoming his protégé.

“He’s well regarded within the club, so I was very honoured to have this instilled upon me.”

Kaye said she felt privileged to be able to thank Curt for his service.

“My husband had ill health for many years, and about three years ago, he had a quadruple heart bypass which meant he needed to come out of it on dialysis.

“Country to Coast and Curt came in and helped us out with transporting him to and from appointments.

“It was fantastic for Geoff to have those blokey kind of conversations and interactions with someone like Curt.

“They built up a really lovely relationship, and he took Curt under his wing with the bowls. Now you can’t get Curt away from the bowls, he loves it so much.

“Curt was so pleased when I offered the uniforms and has been wearing them all throughout recent competitions.

“It’s been really lovely to see Curt carrying on Geoff’s honour like this.”