By GARRY HOWE
POPULAR Nar Nar Goon storekeepers Michael and Mary O’Brien have hung up their aprons.
Last Friday they handed the keys to the Milk Bar and General Store to new owner Jill Petrovic.
Michael insists they will see out their days on the farm on Seven Mile Road they have called home for the past 37 years.
“The only way I will be leaving there is when (funeral director) David Bull comes down with his tape measure,” he smiled.
Michael says he and Mary have loved the shop life but that 14 years of the seven-day-a-week demands were enough.
“We have reached retirement age, so it’s time we had some time together away from the shop.”
They have grown to love the small mural town and have become involved in community affairs, with Michael serving on the progress association for seven years, four as president.
“It is one of the nicest places you would want to live,” he said. “It still has that real country town feel.
“I would say 98.9 per cent of people are fantastic – the type you would have around for dinner.”
That feeling is reciprocated, with both primary schools – Nar Nar Goon and St James – holding farewell morning teas for Michael and Mary in the past few weeks.
He says they have got to know some wonderful people over the years – town icons like Bill ‘Doc’ Doherty, Margaret Deering, Bob Rose, Bill Bickerton, Ray Coombs, Daisy Lia and Malcolm McQualter are regular customers.
They say everyone was treated equally in the store – from the man in a nice suit to the smelly farmer ducking in for the paper and some milk on his way home from the cowshed.
If one of the regulars didn’t appear for a few days, it was not unusual for Michael or Mary to pop around to say hello and check if they were okay.
It is that sort of connection with the community that Jill, her partner Troy Gravener and Chris and Sarah are looking forward to now that they have taken over.
They moved from Pakenham to Nar Nar Goon for a quieter lifestyle 14 years ago and, like the O’Briens, have grown to love the town.
Jill has worked in IT for 21 years, mostly in the city, so it represents a significant career change. She says it will be a real family affair.
