- OBITUARY
Lindsay Stephen Love, 6 June 1950 – 16 June 2023
Leongatha local Lindsay Love was celebrated at a packed Dakers Centre, a perfect venue given the many happy nights he has spent Rock ‘n Roll dancing there with wife Judy as members of Gatha Rock.
The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at the Centre this year.
Lindsay’s vast and passionate contribution to cycling, dancing, engineering and childcare was recalled, as was his determination to improve services, infrastructure and safety for the local community.
Although Lindsay was born in Benalla, the Love family arrived in Leongatha when he was six, with his parent’s dairy farmers and graziers.
His involvement at Leongatha Cycling Club began in 1961, shortly after it was formed, with Lindsay not taking long to achieve competitive success, including winning a couple of Victorian school boy championships and later triumphing in road and track championships at age 16.
A humorous moment was recalled, when a young Lindsay was so determined to beat his brother in a driveway cycling race, he failed to factor in the necessary braking distance and ended up requiring rescue by a local farmer after clearing a drain across the road.
While his passion for competition continued as an adult, Lindsay was renowned for his ability to foster a love of cycling in young participants, building their confidence on a bike and in life.
He was involved in running velodrome training, club carnivals and committee work.
Although he didn’t consider himself a great student, Lindsay was head prefect at Leongatha High School, going on to Monash University and completing a Bachelor of Civil Engineering.
There he met Judy while running a campus shop selling items such as soap, toothpaste and two-foot-long sticks of liquorice.
Lindsay’s son Kieran shared the story of his parent’s engagement, setting the scene by explaining Judy’s Minyip-based parents were less than delighted with the young couple’s idea of moving in together after two years of courtship.
“Well, I’ll marry her then,” Lindsay declared, with that sufficing as a proposal.
Lindsay’s first job was as a quality control engineer at Readymix Concrete, working across metropolitan Melbourne.
While Lindsay and Judy lived in Ringwood for a few years, they moved to his brother’s ‘Cherry Tree Downs’ farm in Tarwin Lower in 1978 when Lindsay secured work as an engineer with the Shire of Bass, remaining there for a decade before a shift to Leongatha.
Children, Ryan, Amy and Kieran were born during the couple’s time on the farm.
Despite having a young family and helping with farm work in addition to his engineering job, Lindsay was an active member of the community, being part of the local fire brigade, primary school parents committee and assisting in establishing the Tarwin Lower Community Health Centre.
He eventually became a consulting engineer, starting Love & Associates and opening an office in Foster offering services in engineering, building design and town planning.
Lindsay began designing childcare centres, inspired by a family connection to that industry.
“As he was designing childcare centres for others, dad decided he’d have one for himself,” Ryan said, leading to the building of Briala Children’s Centre in Traralgon in 1997.
While a fulltime director was employed, both Lindsay and Judy took time away from their other jobs to assist in running the centre.
They established another Traralgon childcare centre, eventually selling both, and also built centres in Moe and Morwell.
Lindsay became renowned for his design of childcare centres, being much in demand.
“He offered a unique blend of practical experience, having run childcare centres, an intimate knowledge of the regulations and had the engineering skills to design something appropriate,” Ryan said.
Lindsay was one of the founding members of the South Gippsland Action Group (SGAG), which started around 2016, being its inaugural and tireless secretary.
“Among the local issues he advocated for via SGAG were area growth, reduction in rates, provision of more industrial land, promoting tourism and road safety,” Ryan said.
The last point was particularly important for Lindsay who was determined to improve safety for Great Southern Rail Trail users, advocating for a safe underpass at Roughead Street, Leongatha.
Lindsay was recalled as a man of immense integrity, honesty and compassion, off on his final bike ride and last dance.
