Services of others is Tony's purpose in life

Tony Manders has never stopped or slowed down in his life, and service to others has been a constant theme throughout his career and beyond.

Tony’s family migrated from Holland when he was 14 and after he unsuccessfully attempted to hitchhike to the port and find work on a ship back to his home country…twice…Tony accepted he would have to make South Australia his new home.

He launched head first into work on a dairy farm with his father at Woodside from 4-7am, walking from his drop off point at Charleston to the Lobethal Woollen Mill for work from 8.30am and walking back to Charleston after his shift to be picked on the way to Woodside to milk the cows at night.

“You slept like a log, believe me,” Tony said.

When the family moved to Port Elliot for a better lifestyle, Tony got involved in the community straight away.

“We thought we’d moved to heaven, it was the best thing that ever happened to us at the time,” he said.

Tony joined the local Surf Life Saving Club and was called on to save two men from drowning, receiving a Queen’s commendation in a ceremony at Government House as recognition of his actions.

He was also in the CFS and remembers fighting several fires, including one that was serious enough to require 24 hours of constant firefighting.

Meanwhile, he worked six days a week at the cheese factory in Victor Harbor.

As he didn’t see a career pathway at the factory, Tony purchased a truck and took on the contract of picking up milk to deliver to the factory.

By the time he was 22 he had three trucks and a thriving transport business, donating his time and equipment to help through the Apex club when he could on weekends.

Tony met his wife, Liz, on a blind date set up by a friend and they married in 1967 before selling the transport business and moving to Queensland, where Tony worked seven days a week, and their first daughter was born.

Life in Queensland wasn’t what Liz wanted so the young family moved back to South Australia and they had another daughter.

Tony worked at the Chrysler foundry until a better opportunity came up in a WA transport company and the family moved again, until Tony’s father became sick.

Despite his sickness, Tony’s father wanted to build a house on Liz and Tony’s block at Tatachilla.

He passed away when the footings were down, so Tony and Liz put in all the hard work after hours and on weekends to build their house, where they lived for 12 years while their children grew up.

As a manager at Mitsubishi Tony found his ideal job, working his way to a position where he was responsible for a combination of production, materials, transport, export, customer liaison and personnel.

“I used to be there when the plant opened up and I used to leave when the plant shut down, I just loved my job at the time,” he said.

Retiring in 2000, Tony was a little lost until he and Liz decided to go travelling in Europe for five months.

Holidaying became a big focus of their retirement lifestyle, as well as looking after their grandchildren.

Of course Tony was also a member of the Willunga Golf Club for 18 years, with a term as president, and 

Somehow he has found time to learn the art of woodworking, crafting five grandfather clocks and a collection of beds, cabinets, tables and wine racks which he gave away to those who needed furniture, asking only for the cost of the timber and a beer in return.

Liz now lives at Oakfield Lodge Residential Care and Tony is moving into Oakfield Rise Retirement Living.

“We’ve had a good life, I’m still having a good life for that matter,” Tony said.

While visiting Liz, Tony noticed the cafe at Oakfield Lodge was not open often, but he could see the space’s potential as a hub for community connection.

So when he was asked if he would volunteer through the new Cafe Connections program, he agreed to serve once again.

As Tony summed up; “My first purpose in life was to look after the family, that’s a given, then I’ve always tried to help others out when they’re in trouble.”