By Garry Howe
Sitting alone in a Berwick coffee shop, Kay Morland looks anxiously at her watch.
It has taken months to set up this meeting and as the minutes pass the designated hour, Kay fears there may be cold feet and a no-show.
Then a 20-year-old appears, almost dwarfed by a huge bunch of tulips.
Kay cries. They hug. Then he cries as well.
The 20-year-old is Brodie Lynch, the driver of the car that hit and killed Kay’s husband Mick Morland as he crossed the Princes Highway in Berwick on a cold Saturday night in June last year.
That emotional first meeting – instigated by Kay – was last October and this unlikely alliance born out of tragedy has since blossomed.
Police quickly established that Brodie – on his way from his Beaconsfield home to K-Mart at Fountain Gate with girlfriend Taleesha Savage – was not at fault.
Kay was at home watching the footy that Saturday, 24 June, waiting for Mick to return from his nightly walk. He was in familiar territory, not far from their Berwick home.
Mick was crossing the highway just up from the entrance to Wilson Botanic Park. He ducked around the back of a car turning right into Coniston Avenue and straight into the path of Brodie’s car.
A lot of people know Mick, by virtue of his community work and two decades as councillor and former mayor of the City of Casey, and the accident scene was no exception.
Equally well-known local copper Pat McGavigan was one of the first on the scene.
Worried that he had been gone so long, Kay had left several messages on Mick’s phone; the last to the effect that if he wasn’t home soon she would call the police.
Not long after, the police were at the door. When Pat said to Kay that Mick didn’t make it, she initially thought he didn’t make it home; that he must have been taken to hospital.
As the grim reality started to sink in, Kay’s mind began to wander from her own loss and grief.
“One of my first thoughts was ‘Oh my God, what about the driver?’,” Kay said.
“Pat had said that there was no evidence the driver was at fault. I have a grandson who was 17 at the time and I got to thinking that if that happened to Jacob I would be devastated.
“It was no-one’s fault. This terrible thing happened to Brodie as much as it happened to anyone in our family.”
Kay says her effort to reach out to Brodie was to ensure he was doing okay and didn’t become another victim of the accident.
She made the first approach, through Pat McGavigan, within the first few days. The policeman was a little taken aback by the request, saying it was highly irregular, but that he would make inquiries.
Kay saw a bit of Pat over the next weeks and months and would occasionally ask if there was any progress.
Eventually she decided to write a letter.
“I was conscious that the longer it went what I had to say would have less impact,” Kay said. “I was happy for the police to read the letter, just to make sure there was nothing wrong in there.”
Eventually the letter found its way to a member of Brodie’s family, who read it then passed it on to Brodie’s father. It took Brodie a while to read the letter, but now it sits in a cabinet with a few other important documents related to that day in June last year.
For Brodie, the letter and subsequent meeting brought a sense of closure – as it did for Kay.
“It has helped us both,” Kay said.
“We knew straight away it was just a freak accident and, Mick being Mick, would not have wanted anyone blamed for something like that.”
Kay and Brodie have seen a bit of each other since that emotional first meeting in October.
A landscaping apprentice, Brodie helped clean up Kay and Mick’s house when it was recently put up for sale.
Kay was struggling to clean the back yard with an old Gerni, so Brodie turned up with his father’s bigger model and soon made short work of the task.
At Christmas time, he turned up with a gift for Kay.
Taleesha knew of Mick through her grandparents, Greg and Eve Farley, but Brodie had no clue who he was until the events of 24 June last year.
Now every couple of months, on the 24th, they visit him together at Berwick Cemetery. It is also the anniversary of the day their relationship began.
“When you two get married, make sure it’s on the 24th,” Kay smiles.
Brodie still has trouble driving on that stretch of road, particularly at night, but a few counseling sessions and the relationship with Kay are helping.
They have both been through the sliding door scenarios and ‘what if?’ moments.
Brodie now wishes he took the Princes Freeway to Fountain Gate that night instead of going along the old highway.
He is known for being late – like he was to the coffee shop that day – and wishes he had taken an extra few moments to leave home that night.
Kay is trying to piece together the circumstances that led Mick to dart behind that turning vehicle and into the path of Brodie’s car.
She had been at a function at the home of David and Diana Nutter that day and had eaten there, so there were no dinner plans at the Morland home.
Mick suffered from type 2 diabetes and could feel a bit faint if he did not eat regularly. She now wonders whether he might have been a bit ‘hazy’ when he set off for the walk, which may account for the momentary lapse in concentration.
He and Kay were conscious of looking after themselves. They both led busy lives and did a not for their community – he in his council role and for Rotary and she as a national president of Inner Wheel.
They had bought a caravan and were waiting for the busy Rotary and Inner Wheel changeover season to pass by before they hitched it up and took off for an indefinite holiday.
Sadly, that never happened.
Mick given a huge send-off in a packed Berwick Church of Christ and his legacy will live on.
At the funeral donations were made to the Casey Cardinia Foundation in lieu of flowers and Casey Council also chipped in a significant amount in his name to allow an annual Mick Morland Memorial Grant to be distributed. The first one was presented to the Casey Basketball Association for the establishment of a wheelchair basketball program at Casey Stadium – a project that would have garnered his strong support.
Although no longer living, he is still giving.
