Local music legend and community stalwart Bill Cole passed away peacefully on Easter Monday with some close family members beside him notably excepting his dearly beloved wife for almost 65 years who has been in William Carey aged care for over five years and his elder sister Joan who died just four days before him.
Bill was born very prematurely in Subiaco in 1932 and named after his father William Roy, as there was a chance he would not survive. According to his son Ian this may have been the start of Bill's 'never give in' qualities. His father was a funeral director with Prosser Scott in Fremantle where he and his sister Joan played together in the back yard of the Fremantle Funeral Home where they practiced playing tennis by hitting balls against a brick wall. Joan being four years older was naturally better and further developed Bill's competitive streak.
With his father William an accomplished tenor and his mother and sister both playing piano it was here that the young Bill began his life-long interest in music. Soon Bill began singing solos at school assemblies and became a member of the Anglican Church Choir in Fremantle.
After leaving school at 15, in 1947, Bill began his career in the finance industry as a bookkeeper with Perpetual Trustees, where he first met Margaret who was to become the love of his life. He later joined the Commercial Bank of Australia where his first appointment was in Bridgetown from where he maintained what was then a very long distance relationship with Margaret as evidenced by numerous surviving letters. In Bridgetown he sang in the church choir and performed with the local repertory club where at 22 he performed in Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp.
Early in 1955 Bill was transferred by CBA to Collie where he and Margaret married in September. In Collie Bill maintained his sporting interest by playing hockey where he was captain/coach of the local A Grade country-week team. First-born son Stephen was born and shortly after Bill was transferred by the bank to Pingelly and then back to the Midland branch for seven years.
Back in the metro area, Bill joined up with three other singers to form the quartet known as The Harmony Men. They performed in many venues, on local ABC radio and TV. They unsuccessfully auditioned for Showcase, a talent show run by Crawford Productions in Melbourne, but were highly commended on the standard of their audition.
Bill was transferred out to Narrogin in 1967 where he was manager of the CBA branch. He joined the Uniting Church, the Repertory Club, Chamber of Commerce and played hockey, tennis and golf. Bill was given prominent singing roles in productions of My Fair Lady, The Merry Widow, The Pirates of Penzance and Salad Days. Three of their children also performed with Bill in The King and I.
The Cole family moved to Busselton in 1972 where Bill was manager of the CBA on Queen Street. When the CBA amalgamated with the Bank of NSW to form Westpac, Bill left the banking industry to run a corner store in West Busselton for five years. After they sold that business Bill and Margaret ran a bookkeeping business following a short stint of Bill selling insurance.
Bill also joined the Busselton Choral Society in 1972 and remained with them for the 48 years up to his passing with many of its members feeling he became its heart and soul as shown by their outpourings of tributes published in their recent newsletters. During his tenure he spent over three decades conducting the choir, served as president and musical director. Judy Smyth recalls the choir winning the 2004 Bunbury Eisteddford singing 'For the Beauty of the Earth' and 'Bring him Home.' Margaret was always there working behind the scenes in the kitchen and reception area to make sure everything was ready when everyone was asked to enjoy a scrumptious afternoon tea following each performance.
Bill was such an inspiration to his all his fellow choir members many of whom could not even read music when they began. His patience was legendary until he would get very close to concert time when he was likely to show up wearing a T-shirt that said WATCH ME. At concerts Bill had an endless array of clever witticisms and jokes that made everyone groan. His solos and duets with Janet Depiazzi were always so professional and emotionally expressive. Bill kept on singing at church and with the Choral Society until early 2020 when he attended their last committee meeting on the 18th March agreeing to go into recess due to the distancing and group gathering limitations of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With their unwavering faith, the Coles were most welcome in the Uniting Church where Bill was an elder, led Bible study groups, was a parish secretary, ministered to others and sang with their choir as well as often doing solos. Each year the couple spent many days helping to prepare and run the annual Busselton wildflower show that has been going for 95 years. In most communities he was involved with Apex and Lions groups as well as the Chamber of Commerce even performing such menial tasks as trawling the beach every summer morning before work with a net to remove as many stingers as possible never seeking recognition for what he did.
"Such a fine man with a very strong, unwavering faith and a great sense of right and wrong, an intensely loyal person, honest and compassionate, always showed respect for others and had a strong work ethic
"He never had great material wealth but found great wealth in his family, friendships, community and spiritual life...he had a great sense of humour (told many a bad dad joke) but was quite firm with us kids but fair," summarised the consensus of his family.
As an all-round sportsman Bill played a competent game of golf and played until very recent years with Wally Fawell, Alan Rankin, Laurie Morrell, Herman Osborne and Derek Hope (with some of them being retired ministers).
On his 70th birthday he received a new tennis racquet and, soon after during a family weekend at Donnelly River, Bill duly beat them all at tennis.
Bill was also a good hockey player, supporting and coaching his children from the sidelines or umpiring. Son Stephen recalls his father driving him to Perth from Narrogin on a number of freezing Sunday mornings to attend state schoolboys trials for hockey. Younger son Ian recalled a game when he was about 15 that Bill was umpiring when Ian swore at an opposition player. Bill blew a free hit for the offended played and sent his son off the ground for 15 minutes instead of the usual five for such an offense. Ian says he learnt not to swear loudly when his dad was about.
Elder daughter Janette recalled joining a choir about four years ago so she talked over songs she would be singing with her dad and almost every song she was to learn he had sung in the past.
Youngest son Graham recalled his regular trips to Busselton with wife Ceri and daughter Rebecca where they would talk about anything and everything, watch sport all day and have dinner together enjoying their special father/son relationship.
Younger daughter Heather said her dad was 'the leader of the pack, and what a wild bunch you bred'. She (in common with most who knew them well) also singled out his devotion towards his wife Margaret and felt it was the 'best love story of all.'
Bill's interests in sport also included Australian rules footy as he was a stalwart supporter of South Fremantle in his younger days. When the AFL comp arrived in WA he became a very keen West Coast Eagles fan. He also was an enthusiastic backyard sports player with all of his children and their offspring.
Bill learned to play table tennis at the Fremantle Police Boys Club in his formative years. During his late teens his table tennis advanced enough for him to win a trophy at the State championships in a handicap doubles event. This talent re-emerged in his veteran years at the Senior Citizens Centre and later when he joined a smaller group at Novacare and played for about three years before his ageing aches and pains convinced him to give away sport.
It seems his favourite sport however was cricket, Bill being a mean leg spin bowler who could bamboozle many an amateur batsman. We can but agree with son Stephen that his dad was too competitive and his faith too strong for him to allow his innings to end on 87 as that is known as the Devil's number in cricket.
Patriarch Bill left behind his wife Margaret, 5 children and their partners, 14 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. They believe he is now at peace in the heavenly choir.
Note: The writer stood next to Bill at choir for the past 12 years and hosted the table tennis group at Nova Village. Most of the information provided in this article was gleaned from the family and choir members' tributes written since his demise on April 13, 2020.
