Caption: Dr John Murray and his partner Bev Behm
John ‘Bunny’ Brasch is no stranger to iconic race meetings.
The respected Queensland racecaller has seen and called plenty of major race days and isn’t flustered by any background pomp and ceremony. But recently at the boutique Capalaba straight track, even Bunny was feeling just a little emotional.
The reason? Several of the races on this day were a tribute to one of the industry’s most respected and loved participants – Dr John Murray.
Plenty has been written and spoken about Dr John since he passed away in April this year, however Bunny emphasised the one comment that kept coming through. Dr John was a gentleman.
“That’s a gentleman in every sense of that word,” he said. “He endeared himself to so many people in this industry initially because of what a great vet he was, but overall because of the person he was.
“The Capalaba club did a great job organising the tribute day. A special thanks to Helen Sant.”
A Dr John tribute page has been added to the Capalaba greyhounds website (under the photo gallery tab). They are all worth a read, but this one sums up most people’s feelings:
Someone much older and wiser than myself once said, and I will quote it as best I can: “In life we have many friends, in particular many who would wish to call us, friends. We ourselves hold only a number of really special friends close to our hearts. They are few in total. They are those that are still present or perhaps passed from this life. They are very different human beings, each one touched with that special something that set them apart from all the other friends. The sad fact of life is that we tend to recognise those friends often too late in our lives. It’s often a time when we have difficulty in communicating with them for many and varied reasons. Strangely in all of this there is one factor that really stands out – our special friends usually live a long way away from ourselves.”
Special friends can go for months even a year or two, without speaking or communicating in any way, yet within seconds of picking up the phone or reading an email or a text it is as if they were by our side and chatting again as if it were yesterday. Talking of days passed is only part of that conversation. Talking about days present, such as family, personal details that only true friends share and the like, but most importantly about the future. theirs and ours. I venture to say it is more than friendship, it verges on a special type of love. It’s not just what you feel in that brain of yours but what you feel in your heart – like a close family member or a life-long partner.
John Murray was one of my very special friends, and to be absolutely honest there are not many human beings, past or present, vets or lay people that fit into that warm part of my being, that has no anatomical name, it’s just there. We all have such a place.
He was a true GENTLE MAN, not just a gentleman, but a true GENTLE MAN. It was there in the way he spoke. It was there in the way he carried out his career. It was there in his dedication to the fastest breed of dog on this planet, that any man has been privileged to put a collar and lead on. He loved greyhounds, and yes, the dogs loved him. I believe so much of his success as a veterinary colleague was largely due to his ability to relate to his patients, and for that you need patience. As a diagnostician he was first class. Her earned the respect of his clients and colleagues through his great skills.
We often enjoyed our chats on the phone, yet the last time we met in person was at my 70th birthday, I think, and though not 100% he made a point of coming. I often used to say to him: “John, when are you going to give it away?”
‘Well,”’ he would reply, “I like to keep up my registration in case I have to write a prescription from time to time.”
That was John. We would talk about our wonderful profession and the enjoyment we both derived from it over the years, but also about life, what the future held, and of course Bev.
He would have been delighted to see Queensland win the State of Origin, and I dread saying it, but after a 22-year stint in Tasmania, I adopted the Sunshine state as well, so we would have been in full agreement.
If you feel a little sad after my reminiscences, please don’t be. John would want us to enjoy his ‘presence’ with us, not as a celebrity but as one of us. He was like that, he just wanted to be an ordinary man and a good veterinarian.
John, my dear friend, you will never be an ordinary man to us. You, as the great Bruce McAvaney would say are ‘SPECIAL’.
– Harry and Suzi Cooper