Stuart Verman; the man.

When Jann asked me to say a few words about Stuart on behalf of his friends, I called up Bill Samson to see if he was wanting to say anything. He was more than happy that I speak; in fact he insisted on it but gave me significant reflections of his time with Stuart. In turn, I also chatted to John Hanley – the highly respected 45-year Wine Show judge, as I knew that he and Stuart went a long way back – in fact into the 1960s. Moreover, Stuart's long time great friend, Mike Coomer, provided his thoughts as well and I will cover off Michael's amusing recollections. Mike lives in Gosford New South Wales and can’t be here today.

It was of course, a privilege to know Stuart – and I’m sure there are many people here today who have had their lives and palates enriched by his presence. Stuart was a highly intelligent character with a wicked sense of humour and a very inquiring—but confidently opinionated—mind. He was generous, friendly and took a keen interest in our lives and always had something of interest to say. Of course, the one common thread in our friendship was undoubtedly his love and knowledge of wine. John Hanley recalls how he met Stuart through the Wine Appreciation courses held at the showgrounds back in the late 60s with the classmates, including John and Rosemary Glauert, maintaining their ongoing interest by forming a group known as the Oenophiles which is still active and ongoing today.

Beyond the Oenophiles Club and Stuart‘s relationship with the Bunbury Bacchus Club, Stuart was a pioneering W.A. Wine Judge in the early 1970s and sat on the Royal Agricultural Show Wine Committee, and as such was instrumental in developing the Perth Wine Show into what it is today. As a result, Stuart nominated John Hanley to be an associate Wine Judge at the 1973 show – and the rest is history, as Stuart and Bill Jamieson mentored John and many others.

Into the 1970s Stuart became state manager of Reynella Wines and Swift & Moore, both based at Lionel Samson‘s in Fremantle. Swift & Moore were agents for Campari, Tia Maria, etc, and as Stuart's great friend Bill Samson says – the wine connoisseur's  favourite "Blue Nun". It was at this time that Bill and Stuart met and made a great friendship. In 1982 Stuart quit the professional side of the Wine business and bought a motorcycle business called Road & Trail, which he changed to American Motorcycles in 1989. The Harley Davidson riders would soon have to become used to his refusal to ride – "...too bloody dangerous...", said Stuart. The business was very successful and is now being successfully run by Ainslie. I remember asking Stuart at the time in 1982 about why the change from the Wine industry and he muttered something about his liver!

I first met Stuart when I joined the Wine and Food Society of W.A. sometime in the late 70s or early 80s, and as relatively younger members at the time we developed a friendship which was enhanced when it turned out that Stuart’s daughter Kate and my son Matt were in the same class at Mount Lawley kindergarten, and Patricia and I were President and Secretary respectively of the parents' group. Stuart was Wine Master and President and ultimately a life member of the Wine and Food Society of W.A.

Stuart and Patricia were the ultimate hosts and many of us enjoyed their hospitality in Mount Lawley and Thomas Street. Bill Samson and Shona enjoyed more than 40 years of friendship with Stuart and Trish and shared many friends and good times, with shared birthday lunches in October/November at their Nedlands home, with the "bring out your best or oldest Wines". The hospitality was legendary – on arrival, freshly shucked oysters and Taittinger.

Whilst on the subject of lunches, there was a very memorable Easter lunch where a teenage girl in the house next door called to say that the house was being burgled. Well, Stuart led the posse and back in front yards were covered. Stuart made a full-blooded rugby tackle and brought down the intruder and sat on him until the police arrived.

Stuart continued with his flair for business when he purchased and ran the Karri Forest Motel in Pemberton. During this time his Tuesday Dinner Club enjoyed a well organised and memorable weekend hosted by Stuart . As he embraced the southern forest region he was involved with the organising and the successful management of the Cherry Festival long table lunches.

After Trish died, he had a very enjoyable trip to KL, Malacca and Singapore with the Samsons, and Mouse and Judy Wickens. They stayed in a tall hotel in KL overlooking the Petronas Towers. Stuart was gobsmacked, observing that for what this hotel offered and cost you wouldn’t get an upstairs dog box with no lift in a dingy street in Paris. It was the first of a number of future trips to Asia for Stuart and Jann. As to be expected, Stuart was fascinated by the early trading history of Malacca and the gardens by the bay in Singapore during its first week of opening.

A group of friends accompanied Stuart to Sydney to attend Kate's wedding. As usual he had things well organised. Accommodation was in Kirribilli, overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Opera House; lunch was at Barangaroo fishing wharf; and the wedding was at the magnificent Gardens at Taronga Park Zoo.

Stuart enjoyed boating and the family  had many enjoyable years on the Swan and at Rottnest. On one weekend he went to Rottnest and ended up in Parker Point, with three boats rafted up overnight. Stuart loved fishing and pretty soon he showed his skill by catching herring and putting them into the large bucket on the middle boat; there was fishing on each boat and this was the main bucket. Then with a bucket full of fish he stepped onto the Marlin Board and scooped water into the fish bucket but lost the whole catch. He thought it was time for a drink and the fishing ceased, remarking in the process that he had saved all the group from scaling and cleaning.

Stuart had a passion for cars and wasn’t afraid to import interesting vehicles and enjoy them.  He was variously seen driving various Mercs, an XJ6 Jag, a 911 Porsche, a seven series BMW, or his rumbling V8 640 BMW coupe, always with loud music such as Oscar Peterson and then Teddy Brown playing, etc. His recent fun car was his chipped Audi A5 rocket ship. Just recently he took it for a run as he hadn’t driven for some time and was cut off by a truck. His young passengers learned some new words.

Stuart exhibited his flair for home designing firstly in their classic Nedlands home and in the current stunning home in Wannanup, where his love of art was evident. Even in retirement in Wannanup with Jann, Stuart continued his interest in business with a couple of houseboats on the Murray River.

Stuart has been an original member of the Tuesday Dinner Club and it was very generous of Jann to regularly drive him up to the monthly dinners. He was always interesting, interested in others, entertaining and bloody funny. And the fruity language was, well, just Stuart! The dinners are somehow different without his presence and everyone feels it. Someone remarked last week that he always sought Stuart's approval for his wine before sharing it. This certainly had a positive impact on the quality of wines brought to the dinners and it typified the subtle, positive influence Stuart had in the group.

Here are some reflections shared by Mike Coomer:
I first met Stuart in the mid 70s; we both worked for the same liquor company with him based in Perth and I was based in Sydney with responsibility for W.A. We formed a close bond with joint interest in wine, food and good living. That bond endured for 50 years through different careers but sustained joint interests.

We shared the start of both his partnerships with Trish and Jann  “that nice blonde lady at the tennis club“.  We were lucky to share many great experiences with Stuart during a number of month-long trips to Europe where we ate and drank our way through the great wine regions of France, Germany and Spain. Special memories include arriving at Château Mouton Rothschild by private train for a cellar dinner with the Countess; lunch with Prince Poniatoski in his troglodyte dining room; being invited to an investiture at the palace of Versaille during a dinner with Count Grimaldi at the Family Château in Bordeaux;and entree consisting of Beluga caviar, foie gras and mince duck egg served as an entree with Chateau Coutet; dinner at Taillevent; lunch at the Power table at Tour d'Argent overlooking the Seine and Notre Dame, drinking vintage magnums of Bordeaux. The pretentious list goes on but Stuart had the happy knack of bringing us back to earth with his dry humour gained from life, where his feet were firmly planted on the ground.

More memories are shared with the nice blonde lady from the tennis club and Stuart during visits to Sydney and in Perth. A memorable weekend together with Stuart's brother, Malcolm, and his wife, Margaret, in Margaret River, with a special lunch at Vasse Felix and too many great wines shared at meals during their times staying at our house at Point Claire.

Stuart had a special place in Sandy and my hearts and the void cannot be filled.

And so as we farewell Stuart, we remember all of our fun times with him, reflect on his generosity, wit, intelligence and the fact that he cared about us as much as we cared about him. We extend our condolences to Jann and his family, and if there’s a heaven up there, Stuart would be sitting back next to a pile of freshly shucked oysters, a glass of champagne in hand, and a big generous smile waiting for us all to join him.

May he rest in peace.
John Hopkins