{"id":39588,"date":"2019-11-07T15:35:35","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T15:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=39588"},"modified":"2021-12-13T08:46:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T08:46:18","slug":"tribute-by-max-gerreyn-vale-russell-raymond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/tribute-by-max-gerreyn-vale-russell-raymond\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIBUTE BY MAX GERREYN  &#8211; Vale Russell Raymond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\">TRIBUTE BY MAX GERREYN &#8211; Vale Russell Raymond<\/span><\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OOKaircCiGI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000080;\">After a five year long battle with cardiac and respiratory illness Russell passed away peacefully on August 25<sup>th<\/sup>.\u00a0 He was in his 87th year and is survived by his wife of 60 years Shirley and children Christopher, Carmela, Anthony, Suby and their partners and ten grandchildren.\u00a0 Russell\u00a0 was the second\u00a0 in a family of an elder sister Naomi (who predeceased him) and younger brothers Aubrey, Alex and Christopher (Senior). He was a product of both St.Aloyisus\u2019 Ratnapura and St. Benedict\u2019s Kotahena where\u00a0 he finished schooling.\u00a0 At St.Aloyisus\u00a0 in his teens Russ shone at athletics and was once a\u00a0 Champion Boy for Uva Province schools\u00a0 with the Pole Vault being the event in which he performed best! At St.Benedict\u2019s he represented the college in its First X1 Soccer Team and was a very nippy and fast forward. Added to his physical prowess he also had a fine musical ear and voice which made him the life of the many numerous parties and social events he compered, hosted and loved to indulge in. Joined by brother Aubrey in beautiful harmony the Brothers Raymond \u2013 Russ and Aub \u2013 were reckoned to be the peer of the famed Everley Brothers \u2013 the US singing stars of the 1950\u2019s and 60\u2019s.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000080;\">\u00a0In Ceylon \u2013when it was once known &#8211; Russell\u2019s working years was a hectic mix of\u00a0 canny investigative\u00a0 man-about town journalist, events manager and compere, entertainer, hilarious mimic and comic who epitomised the proverbial Sri Lankan Eat-Drink and Be Happy life style. Pausing to marry the beautiful athletic Shirley Dabrera\u00a0 in 1959 Russ was sent courtesy of his Times of Ceylon employers on manyl assignments and duties to the UK and Europe .He had several news `scoops\u2019 to his credit and justly capitalised on his daring bold `shoot\u2019 of the\u00a0 Assassin Monk Somarama on the day the latter shot Prime Minister Bandaranaike. Life after The Times of Ceylon saw Russ being head hunted and snapped up by a leading company as its Shipping &amp; Maritime Executive where he again made waves with exposures and revelations on\u00a0<strong>the<\/strong>\u00a0goings-on in that trade.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000080;\">\u00a0In 1974 Russ and his family of four immigrated to WA . Space and time is insufficient to narrate\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 vicissitudes and varied life experiences\u00a0 that he overcame\u00a0 and made\u00a0 him play a significant contribution to the Sri Lankan community in\u00a0 Perth.\u00a0 From a humble start as a casual employee at Associated Newspapers Russ commandeered the status of Editor of the Countryman \u2013 once the state\u2019s most influential farmer\u2019s newspaper and won several awards and accolades for his feisty journalism. Russ also delved into social\u00a0 welfare and rights of\u00a0 a mix of ethnic groups which earned him an OAM in 1994 vested on him by then WA Governor Michael Jeffries.. He was\u00a0 a two time President of WASLA and a solid mentor\u00a0 and advocate for the formation of the BWL and the Sri Lankan Cultural Society. He was also a long serving President of the Ethnic Communities Council WA and Board Member of the Umbrella Organisation. In\u00a0 brief to list the achievements and contribution\u00a0 Russell Cuthbert Raymond made in journalism community welfare and social interaction\u00a0\u00a0 in his adopted country\u00a0 and\u00a0 to his home state of WA will fill a whole book<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000080;\">\u00a0We were privileged to have him as one of our eminent Sri Lankan expatriate pioneer champions, frontman and go-getter. We remember him with pride and gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000080;\">MAX GERREYN\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Tribute to Russell Raymond OAM<\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">We are meeting on Wadchuk Noongah land and I acknowledge their traditional ownership of it and <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">pay my respects to their leaders, past, present and emerging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Friends, welcome, and thanks for joining us today in paying tribute to a wonderful human being, the <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">late Russell Cuthbert Raymond OAM. What brings us together today is not our religion, ethnicity <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">faith etc. but our love and admiration of a man who touched our hearts and our lives in so many <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">ways. The following text in his memorial service captures this well. \u201cSome people just can\u2019t help <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">make a difference in our lives by simply being who they are. They make the world a little bit brighter, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">a little warmer, and a little more gentle; and when they are gone, we realise how lucky we are to <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">have known them\u201d. Russell was all this and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">I had no idea that I would be credited the authorship of the Tribute that Mark Mallabone the Dy. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Editor of the West Australian published as I thought all I did was to provide material for it to be written <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">by the West. Had I known, I would have written it somewhat differently. However, given what the <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">West published, I will focus on Russell\u2019s endearing personality rather than detail all of his <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">achievements covered by it and the Media Release issued by ECCWA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Women and men from diverse communities have inspired me and significantly influenced my life <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">and work in different ways. Sri Lankan Australians have had a disproportionate impact in this regard, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">thanks to the Late Charles Oorloff, the Late Professor Laksiri Jayasuriya AM, (whose wife Rohini <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">and son Kanishka are here), Dr. Leela de Mel the former Executive Director of the Office of <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Multicultural Interests and the late Russell Raymond OAM whose life and contributions we are <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">celebrating today. Russell\u2019s wife Shirley, their children and their extended families are celebrating <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">this event with us and I thank them for the same. Many of you have known Russell for decades but <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">pardon me for just acknowledging two, Kathy Ursich and Nick Agocs. Both have known Russell and <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">engaged with him from MSC and ECC perspectives for 40 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Russell and I go back to the late 70s and we spent a lot of time together in the roles that we had at <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">the ECC, MSC and FECCA. For more than 25 of the 40 years, he was my boss in his capacity as <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">the Chair of the MSC or as the President of ECC. Both organisations and I have immensely benefited <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">from Russell\u2019s guidance and substantial contribution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">As many of you would know Russell retired much earlier than he needed to and many organisations <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">and individuals, including I, benefitted greatly because of it. He was a gifted journalist and could <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">easily have written many a book that would have appealed to a wide audience and made him much <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">money. He chose instead, to maximize the impact of the advocacy and lobbying work that ECC <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">undertook by making bland and complex subjects very appealing and well worth considering. I am <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">more than happy to admit that many articles, submissions etc. that were attributed to presidents of <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">ECC including me, wouldn\u2019t be what they were but for Russell\u2019s editing of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">When Russell worked from the West Australian office in St Georges Terrace, he used to come home <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">every morning in his flashy BMW. I then drove him to work and took his car to the ECC office in East <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Perth where I had access to cost free undercover parking. Therefore, Russell not just made my <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">writing look much better than it was; he also made me look more flamboyant than I ever could be.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Russell\u2019s quirky and endearing sense of humour did not pass on when he left us for as some of you <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">would know, before his passing he convinced the priest who conducted his funeral service to have <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">a bottle of whisky placed on his coffin. Russell\u2019s love of whisky is well known and whilst he always <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">drank in moderation, he was very generous when he served it to friends and family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">What is less known was his love of mangoes, which he never lost until days before his passing. In <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Perth, mangos other than tinned ones are not available in September. I had frozen some home <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">grown ones more than a year and was pleasantly surprised that it had lost none of its taste. So a <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">very simple wish of his was fulfilled before his passing. Whilst on the subject of food, I am not sure <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">how many of you have tasted Russell\u2019s Love cake. Love must have been one of the ingredients and <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\">Russell put a lot of that in it, for its taste was out of this world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Being the thorough professional that he was, until his final days, Russell diligently read all reports <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">that he received as the Vice Chair of MSC. He often asked me pointed questions about various <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">aspects of the Centre\u2019s work, by phone or in the hospital and nursing home. As you would have <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">noticed in the videos Russell engaged with Premiers, Ministers state and federal on both sides of <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">politics and never hesitated to take them to task in pursuing social justice and social cohesion <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">objectives. He was a more strident social worker than me, without having studied social work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Over the years, Russell shared two things with me many a time. The first was, help your children as <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">much as you can, when they need it most; and not as inheritances. The second was, Ramdas we <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">are both very lucky that we have wives who will sacrifice anything for us. I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Russell\u2019s son Chris in his eulogy told us about Russell\u2019s advice, which resonated with him, namely,<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Work hard, Save your money, Never forget your God and Time will heal all wounds. Russell practiced <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">all of it. I am no good at saving money and as for God; my faith is best described, by the title of Hugh <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">McKay\u2019s book \u201cBeyond Belief\u201d. So it is obvious that I still have much to learn from Russell.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Another endearing quality of Russell was how he engaged with the staff of the organisations that he <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">served. I know that one of them called him buddy; and he enjoyed it immensely rather than take <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">offence, as most people his vintage would have done.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I have two sons, three grandsons and one granddaughter who I consider the apple of my life or as I <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">often put it, my stress relief. When a very close colleague of mine shared this with Russell at the <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">nursing home, his quick response was that he had two people for stress relief, his wife Shirley and <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">his daughter Carmela. I hasten to add Russell\u2019s other children also adored him and would have done <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">anything he wanted. However, they were living in Melbourne or working on a fly in fly out basis. His <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">elder son Chris has flown down from Melbourne for this event.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I would now like to share a poem that was part of the funeral service of my younger son\u2019s Godmother. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It is called, Miss me, but let me go. It reflects the Russell we have all loved and admired for so many <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">years; and I suspect how he would have wanted us to accept his passing. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u201cWhen I come to the end of the road and the sun has set for me. I want no tears in a gloom-filled <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">moon, why cry for a soul set free?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Miss me a little but not too long and not with your head bowed low. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Remember the love that we once shared. Miss me but let me go. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">For this is a journey, we all must take; and each must go alone. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">It is all, part of a Master plan; a step on the road to home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">When you are lonely, and sick of the heart, go to the friends we know.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Bury your sorrows in doing good deeds. Miss me, but let me go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Shirley and the family; we thank you immensely for sharing Russell with us for our lives are so much <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">richer because of it. I did not have the emotional strength to accept your invitations to do a eulogy at <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Russell\u2019s memorial service but hope that this event makes up for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">My tribute will end with the song Light a Candle by Daniel O\u2019Donnell. Whilst you listen to the lyrics, <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">please reflect upon Russell\u2019s enormous contribution to so many causes, his personal attributes, his <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">love of family, his mateship, and his unbinding faith. If the impact of his passing on others at MSC <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">and I; are anything to go by, I can only imagine what Shirley, their children, and the grandchildren <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">must be experiencing. So let us think of them; as well as the siblings of Russell and Shirley, for theirs <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">is an irretrievable loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Russell not just believed but practiced the message in the song, that \u201cwe could unite the world from <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">one tiny spark; and it is better to light a candle than curse in the dark\u201d. Russell lit candles for many <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">causes and some of them still shine brightly. He lives on, in all of us and I am sure this song will <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">inspire us to keep lighting candles just as he did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">I can\u2019t thank you enough for what you have done for me, ECC and MSC. I would like to think you <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">are her with us in spirit and enjoying, what we have organised by way of tribute.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px; color: #0000ff; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Vale Russell Raymond, Thanks for listening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400; text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; TRIBUTE BY MAX GERREYN &#8211; Vale Russell Raymond After a five year long battle with cardiac and respiratory illness Russell passed away peacefully on August 25th.\u00a0 He was in his 87th year and is survived by his wife of 60 years Shirley and children Christopher, Carmela, Anthony, Suby and their partners and ten grandchildren.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[9178,9177],"class_list":{"0":"post-39588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-aside","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-articles","8":"tag-russell-raymond","9":"tag-st-georges-terrace","10":"post_format-post-format-aside"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>TRIBUTE BY MAX GERREYN - Vale Russell Raymond<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After a five year long battle with cardiac and respiratory illness Russell passed away peacefully on August 25th.\u00a0 He was in his 87th year and is survived by his wife of 60 years Shirley and children Christopher, Carmela, Anthony, Suby and their partners and ten grandchildren.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TRIBUTE BY MAX GERREYN - Vale Russell Raymond\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After a five year long battle with cardiac and respiratory illness Russell passed away peacefully on August 25th.\u00a0 He was in his 87th year and is survived by his wife of 60 years Shirley and children Christopher, Carmela, Anthony, Suby and their partners and ten grandchildren.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/tribute-by-max-gerreyn-vale-russell-raymond\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"eLanka\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/eLanka.com.au\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-07T15:35:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-13T08:46:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/tribute-by-max-gerreyn-vale-russ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"eLanka admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"eLanka admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/tribute-by-max-gerreyn-vale-russell-raymond\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/tribute-by-max-gerreyn-vale-russell-raymond\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"eLanka admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/#\/schema\/person\/f6e635b74ab35ef88a68a9973cacc5bd\"},\"headline\":\"TRIBUTE BY MAX GERREYN &#8211; 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