Life with George a time of laughter and tears

Photograph: Ruby Feros with an old Byron Bay schoolmate Col Hadwell at a dinner held after the launch of her book, George: his passion, at Feros Care, Byron Bay, NSW, 20th May, 2011.

By Gary Chigwidden

Byron Shire News, May 26, 2011. page 4.

A time of laughter and tears. That's how Ruby Feros described life with her father George, an eccentric trailblazer who spent 25 years raising funds for an aged care hostel for Byron Bay.

Those efforts included riding a pushbike around the town ringing a bell and calling for donations.

While he didn't live long enough to see it happen, his efforts, supported by a hard-working community committee, were eventually rewarded with the opening in 1990 of Feros Care's Byron Bay Village.

At the launch at the village on Friday 20th May, of her book, George: his passion, Ruby said living with her father hadn't been easy. She said when she was growing up, her father had put all his energy into collecting money for a nursing home. At the time, she said, she was embarrassed by the "somewhat unusual methods" he used to raise funds for his passion and his cause

Ruby said she challenged herself to tell the story behind the story and “fell in love with the passion of the man. So I wrote about him rather than just what he had done,” she said.

"Without pioneers like George our country would not have experienced some of the rich legacies it has. "George has left us a legacy, one that is very dear to my heart and the hearts and lives of many Australians in an era where longevity is increasing," Ruby said.

Today, the organisation that carries its name, Feros Care, has residential villages at Byron Bay and Bangalow and offers community care packages up the coast from Port Macquarie to Bundaberg.