RIP Luigi

I FIRST MET Luigi many moons ago when he first started dating June, a good friend of mine. June had just come out of the other side of a rocky relationship and it seemed as soon as she and Luigi became an item, her whole world turned around for the better. Not long after, the couple were wed and they moved to Dalby where they hand-built the home of their dreams “Eureka” using timber from the land.

Luigi was always a very creative bloke and regular readers may remember his elaborate V6-powered-trike letterbox from way back in an earlier edition of Ozbike magazine.

I bumped into Luigi a few times since the move to Dalby. He never changed. Always a smile and warm handshake, always talking about riders’ rights and his beloved motorcycles; and as a mate of his said to me not long back, “No matter who you were, when you spoke to Luigi, he made you feel like the most important person, and genuinely listened to what you had to say.”

He was one of the most genuine blokes I have ever met. With Luigi, what you saw was what ya got! And we were all the better for knowing him, I reckon.

Sadly, Luigi lost a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Even though we knew it was coming, when we got the news it gutted us all.

The funeral service was held in a chapel in Toowoomba where Luigi took his last ride aboard a Harley sidecar outfit from his home town of Dalby to the chapel. An entourage of motorcycles followed the hearse and it was standing room only as the service kicked off under strict instructions that Luigi had left with Pastor Ed Simms.

All of Luigi’s family and many of his friends were there to pay respects, and at the end of the service, we were welcomed up to sign his coffin with Niko pens supplied.

Bad to the Bone was played during his committal and I think Luigi would have been rapt with the proceedings and going out the way he wanted, in fine style.

At the end of the service, Daniel (Luigi’s stepson, best mate and riding buddy) introduced me to the Pastor who said, “Sorry for your great loss.”

I replied, “Mate, it would only have been loss if I hadn’t known him.”

Goodbye, old mate, save a spot for me at the bar and I’ll see ya on the other side.

With love and respect, CHUCK