Tributes for Stanage Bay couple Barry and Sandy Williams

A teaching couple who passed away within a fortnight of one another have been remembered for the impact they had on people’s lives, including how one of them broke a world record with an ex-Rockhampton MP for a good cause.

Barry and Sandy Williams are being remembered for their dedication to their community and for being "really lovely people".

‘Dearly Loved Husband and Wife together again’ states Barry and Sandy Williams’ joint funeral notice.

The Stanage Bay couple are being remembered for their tireless dedication to their community, their roles as beloved teachers and for “always having a smile” on their faces after they passed away within a fortnight of one another.

A joint funeral service was held for Barry, 70, and Sandy, 73, on Friday, July 19, after the pair passed away following their respective health battles.

Both Barry and Sandy were well-loved teachers and members of the Stanage Bay community.

The couple each taught at schools around Central Queensland including in Mount Morgan, at The Hall State School, The Rockhampton Grammar School and Ogmore State School.

Close friend Yeppoon man Michael Marrinan, who first met Barry and Sandy about 20 years ago.

He said Sandy had suffered through a heart condition with Barry also have health issues in recent times.

There was a note on the couple’s joint funeral notice requesting, if preferred, donations to the Cancer Council rather than flowers would be appreciated.

“We used to have a drink in the afternoon together at the local golf club in Park Avenue and we became friends,” Michael said.

“They were living in Rocky at the time but did have a residence up at Stanage Bay and they spent a lot of time up there.

Barry and Sandy Williams are being remembered for their dedication to their community and for being "really lovely people".

“I’d slip up there and visit and it would always be a really enjoyable weekend we’d go fishing or crabbing, not very successfully I must admit but we had pretty good times.”

Mr Marrinan said both Barry and Sandy were “very easy to get along with”, with Barry being “very helpful” to anyone he’d meet.

“He was a really good friend and Sandy was great… they did a lot for the Stanage Bay community,” he said.

“I can remember once going fishing at Stanage with Barry and Sandy and Sandy’s sister and we’d caught a couple of small fish but unfortunately Barry’s maintenance of his outboard and batteries weren’t all that flash and we ended up stuck up the creek.

“I remember after a lot of fiddling around by Barry we couldn’t get the motor going at all but Sandy’s sister stepped up to the plate and managed to brush Barry aside and said ‘give me a go’ and she eventually got the motor going and saved the day.”

Mr Marrinan said both Barry and Sandy were heavily involved in their local SES, emergency services and coast guard.

“Barry would quite often come down to Yeppoon, where I live, for meetings with the Yeppoon Coast Guard and he’d stay at my place and we’d have a good meal, a bit of a chinwag and a few beers,” he said.

Barry and Sandy Williams are being remembered for their dedication to their community and for being "really lovely people".

“I saw him only a few days before he passed, I currently live between Yeppoon and Sydney and about a month ago I drove up and I went to see him after he was discharged from hospital initially and he still wasn’t all that well… we had a bit of a talk and then I was heading back to Sydney and I received a call as I was crossing the border to say he’d passed away with shocked me.

“They were really lovely people.”

Also sharing words of tribute was former Rockhampton MP and teacher Robert Schwarten, who knew the couple for 50 years.

Mr Schwarten first met Barry when they went to teachers college together.

“A very sad occasion, but a very happy one on that, if you look at it in one aspect, that they’re both together as they have been for a long period of time,” he said.

“It’s not surprising to read the wonderful and generous tribute from the Stanage Bay community, I’m hoping somebody can come forward and shed even more light on that because unfortunately, having promised Barry for 11 or 12 years to come up there and go fishing with him, I never go around to it.”

Mr Schwarten said Barry had many achievements both in teaching and away from the profession.

Barry and Sandy Williams are being remembered for their dedication to their community and for being "really lovely people".

He shared a memory of a time when he and Barry broke a world record for playing billiards to raise money for a disability organisation.

Mr Schwarten said it showed the kind of person Barry was because he was involved in his community everywhere he went.

He and Mr Schwarten even served on the council together.

Mr Schwarten also shared a memory of how Sandy helped him and his wife with wallpapering their home not long after they were married.

“I can’t think of any time in my life where I would ever question the integrity of these people,” he said.

“I remember when we were first married Sandy was over helping Judy wallpaper the wall… Sandy was an absolute gun at it and of course Barry and I worked on one another’s houses putting extensions and all that sort of stuff and pulling down houses together.

“Anytime I ever say Barry or Sandy it was like I’d seen them five minutes ago.”

Barry passed away on July 1 and Sandy on July 14.

The couple had two boys, Ben and Scott, and leave behind Scott.

They also leave behind grandchildren Cara, Alana and Dustin and great grandchildren Lyric.

Originally published as Tributes for Stanage Bay couple Barry and Sandy Williams