Fitting farewell for 30-year road grader

HEAVY machinery led a funeral procession through Bellbrae for popular Surf Coast Shire road grader Murray Kurzman.

A motorcade headed by a tractor and Mr Kurzman’s beloved John Deere motor grader travelled from Bellbrae Hall to Bellbrae Cemetery last Thursday (September 14), following a funeral service at Geelong Memorial Park in Mount Duneed.

Mr Kurzman worked for 31 years as a grader driver for the council, with shire employees among those leading tributes for the workmate they called “Murray in a hurry”.

Family members said Mr Kurzman would be remembered as a kind, friendly and caring man who was always up for a chat with people he came across.

Away from work, he was also a regular at the former Torquay Speedway at Spring Creek Reserve, and was a division two state champion in his Ford Zephyr called Southern Roarer.

He also ran a hobby farm at his Moriac property with shorthorn cattle, including his beloved bull Boris, and restored Ferguson tractors.

Months before his passing, Mr Kurzman had joked one of the tractors would be the ideal vehicle to tow him up Bellbrae Cemetery hill – with his children fulfilling that request by placing him in a Ferguson trailer behind the tractor for last week’s procession.

His family said they were grateful for the support that Mr Kurzman’s friends, family and acquaintances had offered following his death and to help deliver the service.

“It was just beautiful and went exactly how Dad would have wanted,” she said.

Mr Kurzman died peacefully and surrounded by family on September 4, aged 77.

He is survived by his wife Lila, sisters Lauris and Cheryl, and children Sheree and Grant.