My Dad!

Geoff and Koby are still best friends, 25 years on,ByCAITLYN PATMAN, Geraldton NewspapersJune 11, 2012, 10:08 am
What started as a way to pass the time for retired hotel owner Geoff Bailey has bloomed into a 25-year partnership with Koby Lee-Steere.
Mr Bailey saw an advertisement for a teaching assistant at Holland Street School, Geraldton and thought, “that would suit me down to the ground”.
“I went in and started right there on the day,” Mr Bailey said.
It was there Mr Bailey met Mr Lee-Steere, a 16-year-old man with brain damage and hearing loss.
Mr Bailey became his carer and has remained by his side for 25 years and counting.
“He’s no trouble at all,” Mr Bailey said humbly.
“We get on so well together.”Up until last year Mr Bailey cared for Mr Lee-Steere five days a week on a fortnightly basis but now spends time with him two days a week and on public holidays.
Mr Bailey, now 85 years old, and Mr Lee-Steere, 41, enjoy walks and coffee with Mr Bailey’s wife, Pat.
“He goes mad for coffee,” they said.
“When he arrives, he sits straight down and waits for a coffee,” Mrs Bailey said.
“If Geoff’s not around, Koby will go looking for him.”
Geoff is originally from Perth and met Pat in her hometown of Mt Magnet when he was working as a relief station master.
They married and over the years managed a newsagency, a betting agency, a roadhouse and The Grand Hotel in Mt Magnet.
The couple moved to Geraldton in 1981 where Mr Bailey retired.
Mr Bailey received a Making a Difference Award in 2002 from the Disability Services Commission and shows no signs of slowing down.
He recently passed his driving test again after having to sit again on reaching his 85th birthday.
“I’ll keep going until I cark it,” he laughed.