Dee Fathers Central Coast

Dee Fathers was a member of Dragons Abreast Central Coast since joining in 2003 , holding the position of club captain for many years. She was a good friend, and is sadly missed.

Dee was widely known as our diminutive drummer and regarded everywhere we went as a Mighty Mouse personality. Given the opportunity, Dee was amongst the first to volunteer to beat her drum for other crews as well as her own. With her forceful nature and tiny size, she was a natural, and literally no weight to carry despite always wearing her trademark gold jewellery!

She dealt with issues within the club and dragon boating community in a confident and often feisty manner. As captain, she was responsible for our participation in regattas and organising composite crews for us with other clubs when necessary. Over the years, she formed close relationships with members of other Dragons Abreast clubs, and was well known throughout the national organisation.

Membership of DACC opened many doors for Dee, and travel opportunities abounded. She went to Canada, Singapore and the USA as well as many Australian venues for Dragons Abreast events. Loving dragon boating, Dee was an enthusiastic participant at every regatta. She was the only member of DACC to have participated in every International we’ve been invited to. Cheeky little thing, perched up on her seat with the best view in the world, drumming like a banshee and hanging on for dear life! She’d instruct us at the beginning of every race: “Focus in our boat!” She was a great bossy boots too!

Always a ready volunteer at publicity and fund raising events, each year Dee took great delight in organising the club’s participation in one of her favourites, the Best Breast Breakfast hosted by the Breast Cancer Institute and held at Homebush during Breast Cancer month. She loved joining the large group of like-minded people, listening to the stories of other breast cancer survivors, and hearing about the progress of treatment and research into the disease. 

Dee passed away on Tuesday, 10th November, 2015, sadly missed by her family and friends, but always remembered with love and respect.