“It feels like something out of a movie, you know? It feels like whoever’s writing dad’s scripts got it wrong. He should have gone some other way,” said Victor Moar’s son Clancy, following his father’s tragic death from a freak lightning strike during a dog trial at Geurie, 30 kilometres east of Dubbo, on Saturday, October 20.
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“The last three days has been a severe shock, not just to family, it’s dad’s friends, dad’s workmates and really the entire community,” Clancy said.
“We’ve spoken to Ronnie Piddington, the funeral director, and Ronnie’s estimating that it’s going to be probably the biggest funeral Armidale’s ever seen. He’s estimating three to four thousand people showing up for it.”
For Clancy, it was overwhelming to know so many people were influenced by his dad, or that his father had some kind of affect upon them. He said it made him feel incredibly proud.
“In life he tried to treat everyone equally. If you were selling something for five dollars or five-thousand dollars dad treated you the same,” Clancy said.
“The pride that I feel for my father can’t be measured. When you’re growing up in this town and someone points you out in the street and say’s, ‘You’re Victor Moar’s son, aren’t you?’, that is something else because you always knew something good was about to follow.
“He will be remembered for a long, long time, but his number one achievement is his family. My dad is severely proud of his boys, Jai Kane and Clancy and his grandchildren. Anytime I’ve talked to anyone about dad, they will always bring up, ‘Gee, he never stops yakking about you kids.’
“His second achievement is all the work he’s done in the livestock industry.”
Clancy said his father had had some sort of affiliation with livestock since the age of 13, and had helped the industry evolve.
“Last year for Armitage and Buckley he had the largest cattle sale on record for Armidale Saleyards, which was 5009 cattle in one day, that were sold,” he said.
“His third achievement would have to be his being a mentor to so many people. He’s helped a lot of troubled kids, a lot of people who want to get into the livestock industry, he’s given them a shot. Anyone will tell you that he’s a fabulous teacher.
“Dad had this natural knack of working with animals. Some people have it, some people just don’t - I’m one of those who don’t – but he’s somehow been able to transfer his ability onto other people. He just gets people, you know?”
Clancy said his father was nationally a well renowned as an auctioneer, and anyone who had gone through Armitage and Buckley who his dad had taught had made it to the finals of the Sydney Young Auctioneers competition.
Clancy said no matter what, his father had always said he was proud him, and the choices he had made throughout his life.
“When I told my father that I got into university, geez he was chuffed. And when I told him that we were going to have a baby, his eyes lit up, and when our son, Theodore, was born he came into the waiting room and asked if it was Theodore’s room,” he said.
“I said, ‘Yes it is. Dad, I would like to introduce you to Theodore Victor Moar.’ When he heard that his middle name was Victor, well, I’ve never seen that look on his face before.
“It was something I will never forget. I could just tell he was really proud that we’d made that decision – he could tell the kind of influence that his life had had on mine.”