THE official opening of the Shoalhaven Cancer Care Centre on Friday was a proud moment for the Cleary family and a dream realised.
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And there have already been calls for part of the centre to be named in the late Dr Ray Cleary’s honour.
Dr Cleary was the driving force behind the centre’s establishment, with his widow Zita travelling from Brisbane with her two daughters Belinda Baker and Christine Blanchard for the opening.
“There is no way we would miss this,” Mrs Cleary said.
“Ray would be so incredibly proud. I know he is here with us.”
She said the opening was a dream realised.
“My family calls it the dream realised,” she said.
“It’s been 10 years plus from when the idea was first conceived to finally realise this.
“It has been an important part of my life. I’ve had a lot of nervous energy invested in this.
“It is just what Ray would have wanted all those years ago.
“He never went by half measures in anything he did. He always set the bar high and that bar had to be attained under any circumstance.
“This is at least what he would have expected.”
“Dad would have been tickled pink,” Christine said.
“We are very proud.”
“It is lovely to see the centre here. As a family we are so proud but I know he would have been proud of the way the community, the Shoalhaven community that he was so proud of, fought for and raised money for this,” Belinda said.
At Friday’s official opening there were suggestions that a section of the centre should be named in Dr Cleary’s honour, something his wife said would be fantastic.
“That would be magical, but I don’t expect it,” she said.
“It would be lovely, it would be like the university, it would be another reminder to the community in the future to say that we don’t know who this fellow was but obviously he was someone who had drive and energy and he certainly had that.
“It would be a great honour. Whether it actually happens I wouldn’t expect that.”