Vale – Max West (4 December 1936 – 17 September 2018).

Maxwell John West (born 4 December 1936) was a student at Murrumbeena State, then Gardiner and Lloyd Street Central School before attending MHS from 1950 to 1953, belonging to Forrest House.

While not a great scholar, completing an ‘honours’ year in third form, Max loved his time at the school was active in cadets and relished the Assemblies, the addresses of Langley and the singing. He went on to become an electrician and had a successful career. Max completed his National Service in the Air Transport wing, and loved regaling tales of being in the back of a Dakota Aircraft, parachuting cargo into small clearings in the forest around Puckapunyal. Max was also a great joiner, convivial in company and was a Freemason with Monash Lodge and also the Holy Royal Arch Melbourne Chapter.

Max enjoyed his national service, wore his medal with pride and was active with the National Servicemen’s Association. For many years he served as a volunteer guide to the Victoria Barracks. He was also in the Box Hill RSL. He was an active Anglican serving on his local church vestry as well as Synod. Devoted to his old school he did volunteer work in the archives, spending much time compiling a list of teachers of the school. He donated a Speech Night Prize and to celebrate his 60th birthday had a dinner party for his old MHS teachers. Max was a ‘salt of the earth’ character who was always a pleasure to be with. He was an optimist about life, only in his final years acknowledging some of it’s darker aspects that had affected him. He died on 17 September 2018 aged 81 and is survived by his three children and 12 grandchildren.

Written by Alan Gregory & Luke Savage