Carl Theodor Gellert Tribute

Carl Theodor Gellert was born in Hamburg, West Germany on 25th October 1936.  Very limited information was obtained from Dad during those turbulent years of his life, suffice to say he arrived in Australia and soon became an Australian Citizen, he was immensly proud that he achieved this and anyone who doubted he was Australian heard about it.  He went on to marry Elizabeth Jean Coad on 13th February 1965 in Yarram, Victoria.  I have been informed that they were quite the social couple going to parties and dances every other night mixed in with their passion for ten pin bowling.  I arrived their oldest child in September 1971 and was followed up with my brother in January 1974.  We all lived quite happily together until 1985when things started to get bad between my parents.  They ended up divorcing in 1988.  A short time later my brother went to live with my father in a remote area out of Rockhampton but they returned to Brisbane when dads health started to deteriorate.  Dad battled Leukemia and beat it.  Then he moved to Cairns and thoroughly loved his life up there until he started developing ulcers on his leg, the pain became so severe that I convinced him to move back to Brisbane and get specialist medical attention here and be closer to us his family and grandkids.  When he came back his leg just never recovered until he eventually he made the decision to have it amputated.  His quality of life improved so much after that operation and rehabilitation.  Although he was in a wheelchair that was his own decision, he had the necessary bits and pieces to walk but found that it was too draining. It was an extreme shock to us the day we found that dad had passed.  There was no warning signs that we had been informed of.  I spoke to him the day before and he seemed a bit down but not severely so.  When a neighbour called me because she was worried about him, I knew then that we were going to receive bad news and so I made the decision to send the police to his unit who 10 minutes later confirmed my worst fears.  My dad passed away officially on 9th March 2008 from a suspected heart attack, my brother and I made the decision to not have an autopsy has he had suffered enough in his life.  We were of the opinion however that he officially died the day before but the certificate was written out for this date and this is the day we will now remember, commiserate, celebrate and love our dad.