Great Scot April 2019 Great Scot_156_April_2019_Online | Page 99

member of the 1944 Swimming team. Also
at Scotch were his brother Kenneth Andrew
McKay (SC 1944-48), and sons Farrell and
Cameron David McKay (born 6 July 1965,
SC 1978-83, died 21 August 2002).
Bruce said little about his Scotch years,
but for World War II evacuations to shelters
in trenches around the Meares Oval. Despite
the menace, he loved the escape from
classroom rigours. To him, everything in life
had a silver lining.
As a young man, Bruce was a mad
keen motorbike owner and successful racer
at Fishermans Bend and Phillip Island.
Unfortunately, his mother prohibited these
activities, so, with a dash of larrikinism, he
raced regardless, under the guise of his middle
name ‘Bruce Ronald’. He called it thinking
outside the box.
On 6 February 1954 Bruce married Dorothy
Elizabeth Oram at Holy Trinity Church, Coburg.
For several years Bruce volunteered his time
as a crisis counsellor at Lifeline, where he gave
up evenings and nights to help people who
were distraught or in emotional deep water.
He did this purely out of kindness; to him, the
act was its own reward.
A serial entrepreneur and dedicated
businessman, Bruce’s ventures were many
and varied, but the family business, McKay’s
Dairies, was his enduring passion. With his
brother, Ken, Bruce successfully expanded
McKay’s Dairies manyfold, acquiring
competitors to become a major metropolitan
milk producer and distributor operating across
five Melbourne sites. Bruce proudly described
himself as a dairyman.
In 1969 Bruce became a full Fellow of the
Australian Institute of Management. Here he
regularly received awards for his long, active
involvement in the institute and his exemplary
public speaking skills.
Looking back, Scotch was a key influence
on Bruce’s life. His core character traits –
generosity, integrity, selflessness, faith, and
a lifelong thirst for learning – all grew and
developed directly from his Scotch years.
By example, he passed on these virtues to
everyone around him.
Bruce died peacefully at John Fawkner
Private Hospital, Coburg, on 1 February, 2019.
RIAL, Robert Henry (Rob)
(’59) Rob’s family wrote:
Robert Henry Rial was
born at Windsor on 14 July
1941. Known as Rob, he
attended Scotch from 1954
to 1959 as a member of
Gilray House. Rob was involved in all aspects of
school life, particularly sport, where he received
triple colours in 1959, having competed in the
winning 1958 Athletics team, and the 1959
team, as well as the 1959 1st XI and 1st XVIII.
He continued his athletics at Percy Cerutty’s
Portsea training camp, receiving a Victorian
state jacket, and also a Commonwealth Games
jacket for his place in the 1962 Commonwealth
Games team as a mile runner. Disaster struck,
though, when a hammer thrower lost control
of his hammer at Olympic Park early that year.
There were no protective nets, and Rob was
hit in the leg while on the training track, and
was injured so badly that he was unable
to compete.
In April 1962 Rob went to England and
eventually had some athletics successes, with
a best run in the mile of four minutes, four
seconds. He studied the carpet business while
there, and returned to Melbourne in 1963.
He then competed for the Old Scotch
Athletics Club.
On 29 November 1963 Rob married Helen
Fairlie Steward at Scotch. He spent 27 years
working for Brinton’s Carpets in Geelong.
Rob became its export sales director, and also
ran agistment farm Winbury Hill Stud in Forest
Road, Moriac. It had sheep, cattle, and horses.
Rob looked after successful retired racehorse
Lord for 15 years. His greatest success as
a racehorse owner and breeder was with
Neliska, which won the 1984 South
Australian Oaks.
Rob retired to Palm Cove, Queensland,
where he spent his last 20 years before dying
peacefully at home on 4 November 2018 after a
short battle with recurring prostate cancer.
He is survived by his wife and children David,
Tony, Anna and John, and 11 grandchildren.
SMITH, Dr William Colston
(Bill) (’40)
Bill’s son, Russ, wrote:
Dr William Colston Smith
was born at Footscray on
25 June 1922. Bill attended
Yarraville West State School, Williamstown
High School, and then Scotch from 1937 to
1939. Also at Scotch were his brother Charles
Appleton Smith (born 10 March 1920, SC
1935-36, died 24 July 1968), sons Rob (SC
1961-64) and Russ (SC 1961-66), nephew
Greg (SC 1964) and grandson Cameron (SC
1988-93). Two great-grandsons are booked to
attend Scotch.
In 1940 Bill worked in two office boy jobs,
and in 1941 he attempted the Dental course
at Melbourne University, but failed due to his
lack of Intermediate science subjects. From 16
February 1942 to 16 August 1946 Bill served
in the AIF in medical units. Trained in a field
ambulance, he spent 18 months in New Guinea
with the 2/5 Australian General Hospital,
and then Brisbane military hospitals. Bill was
discharged as a Staff Sergeant.
At the hospital, Mary Adele Wilson pulled
his name out of a hat as her dance partner.
They married at the Kyogle Presbyterian
Church in New South Wales on 10 November
1945. Bill resumed his Melbourne University
Dental course in 1947, graduating in 1951.
Joining his father in private practice at
Seddon, Bill was Visiting Dental Officer
to Heidelberg, Bundoora and Macleod
Repatriation Hospitals. After his father’s 1954
retirement, Bill ran a sole practice until selling in
1977 and retiring from private practice.
He moved to the family’s Emerald holiday
house. Bill continued Repatriation work until
1993, then cared for Mary until she died on
26 March 1994.
In retirement Bill discovered art – oils,
water colours, pastels and pencil — and wood
carving. He had many Department of Veterans’
Affairs annual competition successes. Bill’s
artworks hang throughout Australia, the USA,
and Germany.
A keen Old Scotch Collegian, Bill
inaugurated the perpetual BRRC Smith
medallion and voucher for the 3rd XVIII’s
best player.
In 2007 Bill moved to Bacchus Marsh and
was involved in the Probus Club. He died in the
Sunshine Hospital on 6 December 2018, after
a brief illness, surrounded by his Scotch sons
and grandson, and his only granddaughter,
Melissa.
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
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