OBITUARY: School president John O’Keefe had a giant impact

Father John. First time I saw him was 53-plus years ago, but I remember him as if it was yesterday. His size was obvious, but it wasn’t long before every boy knew his stature matched his height. Sure, it was a time when pupils totally respected school principals, or president as he was called, in the 60s. But there was something about him. A few words in a Geraldton church bulletin last Sunday — please pray for the recently deceased — told me Father John O’Keefe had passed away. My mind went to the quadrangle of a boys’ boarding school in country Victoria of more than half a century ago. Of the man who would walk from one side to the other with eyes staring in awe and, for some, anxiety. When you lived 24/7 in a school with less than 200 kids (only going home at the end of term), you got to know all reasonably well. We didn’t know all of what Father O’Keefe did. But he was the president, “the boss”. I remember the lad we thought was the toughest in the class being caught after a three-day ‘escape’. He got ‘six cuts’ from Father O’Keefe, his hands black and blue and tears in his eyes. A good advertisement for toeing the line. Sydney-born, Father O’Keefe coached our first XVIII and under-17 sides, the latter being the best junior football side in Bendigo, a strong footy area. He taught Latin to a “selected” few. My dear dad wanted me to do it, I didn’t. I was hopeless and in an exam the eyes wandered between the answers of the top two kids. Father O’Keefe requested a ‘one-on-one’ session post holidays. Eyes never wandered again. In the report at the end of my first year, he simply wrote: “I do not think it would be wise to promote Peter on these results. Conduct: Excellent.” So a meek and mild me repeated Form 2 (Year 8). I last saw and talked with Father O’Keefe at a school reunion a decade ago, Parkinson’s disease starting to make a mark. I knew he had come west — starting in Perth as the spiritual director at St Charles Seminary in Guildford between 1971 and 1975 — but didn’t realise he spent eight years “on loan” to the Diocese of Geraldton. He served in Exmouth, Derby, Three Springs, Northampton-Kalbarri and at Leonora, Laverton and Leinster among appointments. Only family and friends were at the funeral of Father O’Keefe in Sydney last Tuesday week. I know thousands of men in the Eastern States will remember him fondly from school days when they learn of his passing. And there will be just as many in Geraldton and the Mid West who will share pleasant memories of “the gentle giant”. Principals, presidents or whatever. They can make a big mark on your life.