To Ralph and family,
We were shocked and saddened to hear of the loss of your father who supported us for many years in the Australian Business. We started working with GEHO Pumps in November 1991. Ger made several visits to the Australian and New Zealand Customers' to meet them firsthand to check-in on how the pumps were operating. I learnt so much from Ger in my early years, when I accompanied him to many different sites, trouble shooting and diagnosing problems and issues. The exposure to Ger was fantastic and being keen to learn through asking more and more questions, I was probably driving him crazy, like a little kid asking all the time – “But Why?”
Ger never failed though and would always freely share his knowledge, a gift that one can always give, without losing anything. Ger would go into the in-depth full review of why this was done, what they have done since and plans he had for the future. He never held back in passing on the knowledge to any of his Australian Colleagues and for this I am forever grateful to have learnt from the best in the business. My solid grounding and learning from the person who was “the brains behind the GEHO Pump” established a very strong relationship between me and Ger over the years.
His own unique style I observed during a business trip to New Zealand Steel Waikato Iron Sands transfer Pump station. Ger was being quizzed about numerous issues from the technical staff at the mine site. He kept on responding all the time, “At GEHO Pumps the reason we designed this feature into the pump was …. and we did this was…..” etc; He was then asked a tough question that stopped him, and he paused to think for a little while. He responded, “after leaving University and joining GEHO Pumps in their engineering team, we were reviewing the old Mud Pump design to improve performance and I followed on to design the Modern-Day Diaphragm Pump ….” You could have heard a pin drop in the room as everyone lifted their head from their note paper and looked directly at your Dad and took in every word he spoke. The single use of the word "I" just that once, lifted him from being a very capable engineer to an extremely credible designer of the GEHO Pump in the eyes of the Customer.
I used this same approach when attending any Client presentation on the GEHO Pump and when asked questions, I would answer in Ger's words; "We at GEHO Pumps recommend doing this, etc; … When the questions became very detailed, I would then say only the once, like Ger; “When I installed and commissioned the GEHO Pumps at Nabalco in the Northern Territory, ……” You would watch the look on the clients’ faces in the room like what I observed back in New Zealand. I always felt so privileged and proud every time and thought of Ger what he taught me back in 1992, something he probably never even realised as he was such a humble man.
Our heartfelt condolences to your Mother and the rest of your family and letting you know we will be praying for you and the family during this difficult time in your lives.
A humble Man, with a passion for knowledge sharing, the gift Ger would always give so generously.
Warmest regards always,
Tony, Tracy and Tess Millar
