Scott Raymond Gower - Eulogy by Scott’s parents, read by Scott’s brother’s wife Kathy Scott Raymond Gower was born at 12am on the 12th of September 1971 at the Memorial Hospital. He had a hard battle coming into the world and an even harder battle leaving it. Scott was the eldest son to Claire and Wayne, and big brother to Corey and Todd. He was a loving husband to Kathy. In the early days, Scott and Todd developed an alliance; they would pick on Corey and make him cry. Corey would start a fight with Toddy, and Scott would come to little Toddy’s rescue. Toddy’s not so little anymore! Scott always tried to get his younger brother in trouble. On one occasion he and his friend Richard, came up with a great plan. It was to get Corey to say something they knew would get him in trouble. Unfortunately, they hadn’t realised that Mum overheard their plan. Consequently, both Scott and Richard had their mouths washed out with soap. It wasn’t all bad though, he did save Corey from a near drowning in a river after he slipped in. From a young age Scott always enjoyed pulling things apart and putting them back together. One of his projects was to pull apart an old style, black, dial up telephone and reconstruct it. Scott and his brothers would often come up with ideas for the perfect job. Some of those ideas were a couch, a tv, a stereo, a computer or even a food tester, whatever required the least effort! They also came up with a unique invention using a pool cue with a finger attached for reaching the tv set controls. This would be used if the remove could not be located. Scott started off his career as a car detailer and then a motor mechanic apprenticeship. He taught himself how to use CAD CAM. (computer aided design). I believe it is a computer program to design parts and test their capabilities. All his other knowledge, he learned from his Dad, even stuff he didn’t know he knew. Who could forget the “Hol-Ford”? This was a Holden block with a Ford head, built by Wayne and Scott together. They were determined to build it because they were told they couldn’t. Apparently his was Wayne’s idea, but Scott took all the credit for it. Scott had a variety of interests, not just building cars. In partnership with Corey and Wayne, he constructed a side car, with suspension of course, to attach to a push bike for their paper rounds. Scott enjoyed Go Kart and also participated in Cricket, Baseball, Taekwondo and Tennis with his Grandpa. He was also a keen footballer in his younger years and was asked to play League for South Adelaide, he chose to play the more interesting sport of Lacrosse. Scott played Lacrosse for Burnside Lacrosse Club for 14 years. He played with determination and was nicknamed ‘HOOVER’, as he would ‘hoover up’ the ground balls. He even won Best & Fairest in 1995. Scott also had some musical talent. He learned to play the guitar, and also sang in the school choir and the Adelaide Boys Choir. Yes, I had a good giggle at that too. As a child, he was caring, quiet and sensible, if you compare him with Corey. Not so sure about the sensible, because I have heard stories that would prove otherwise. Eg When Scott got a new bike, he though he was doing really good wheelies, until he fell off the back of the bike and cried all the way home. Instead of helping his bother, Corey took the opportunity to hop on the bike and take it for a spin. When the boys had a tree house in a plum tree, they spent a day covering the neighbours white house with plums….and the next day cleaning it off. Scott, Corey and Todd make their own mud slide in the backyard using a piece of tin. They had the commonsense to place a mattress against a tree to prevent themselves from sliding straight through the back door or hitting the tree. Claire and Wayne remember a time when they went and left Scott and his mates at home alone. Never a good idea! As they drove up the drive, Wayne suspected that they had taken his car for a spin, without permission. They thought they had gotten away with it, because they had accurately marked where the car had been parked, and returned it to exactly the same spot. Wayne could not be fooled. Scott was always a perfectionist, even when playing a Play Station racing game. Before the race, he would spend a long time setting up his car to perfection, and then blitzed everyone. Scott also had a good sense of humour. When he moved in with his mates, they put a couch on the front porch. They stuffed some wet weather gear into the shape of a person waving, and placed it on the couch. People would always beep and wave as they drove past, thinking it was a real person. Scott was competitive. The Gower boys enjoyed cinnamon donut eating competitions with their cousins to see who could eat the most. The rules were that they had to eat a plate of the main serve first. Katie beat all the boys with her record of 13 donuts. The boys still dispute this. They believe that Katie had an unfair advantage because she ate a small main serve and they had chosen to eat several. Scott came second to Katie, eating 10 donuts. His parent’s remember when Scott wanted to borrow his Dad’s boat. He was told if he could back the trailer out of the drive, then he could borrow it. So he did…with no problem. Such skill and determination. Scott has fun and games with the Horn family kids when they visited from Melbourne. There was no playing dolls or doctors and nurses, it was all about boys games, and the game rules were the same whether girl or boy, younger or older. These games included British bulldogs, Go Karting/Billycarts and of course, Monopoly where Scott would always win. The Gower/Horn family link remains strong to this day, through the good times and the bad. Norelle has been like a sister to the boys. Let us not forget about the competition between Scott and his Dad. They took a car up to race on the Salt Lakes. Scott had got the fastest time at 175.9 miles per hour and Wayne 160 miles per hour. When they received their certificates, the times had been mixed up. So according to Wayne’s certificate, he had the fastest time. Wayne got great satisfaction from reminding Scott of this. Scott and Kathy have had it tough the last few years. First Kathy’s illness and then Scott’s. In April 2012, Scott was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukaemia). Unfortunately things never went his way. He went through chemotherapy in Adelaide and trial treatments in Melbourne, with no success. Scott remained strong throughout his treatment. It wasn’t long before Scott became a favourite with the nursing staff. He never complained and was never demanding. It was fortunate that Claire was able to accompany Scott to Melbourne during the trails and will always treasure the time they spent together. She would like to apologise publicly to Scott for her snoring. Scott fought a hard fight till he found peace on the 1st of June at 12.25 at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide. Scott’s family would like to thank Dr Bardy at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Dr Wei at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital for their care and support. We would also like to thank the nursing staff of NE1B outpatients, NGB Palliative Care and the nurses of NEGB for not only caring for Scott and looking after him, but also for being there for me, their co-worker, when I have needed it. You have all been amazing. Kathy, you married Scott and became part of the Gower family. We thank you for the support, love and care you gave to him, and we will always consider you part of the family.