OBITUARY
Richard ’Dicky’ Custerson
Born 27 July 1963
Died 3 October 2016
RICHARD ‘Dicky’ Custerson has been remembered as a larger than life character with a beaming smile and an affinity for people, who had a kind word and sympathetic ear for everyone he came across.
His good mate Brett Lovett told mourners at his packed-out funeral service in Cranbourne on 12 October that he was best described as “a people whisperer”.
The founder and managing director of event management company A Positive Move died on 3 October, at 53, after a short battle with cancer, only days after watching his beloved Western Bulldogs win the AFL premiership, with wife Leanne and children Tayla, Wayde and Camille by his side.
“Dicky was a unique man, who left his footprint on those lucky enough to be on the bus of life with him over his 53 years,” Mr Lovett said. “The outpouring of genuine love by so many, particularly during his recent battle, is testament that he was a very special person to many.”
Richard Desmond Gerard Custerson was born on 27 July 1963 at Dandenong and District Hospital, weighing in at a healthy 10lb 10oz, to Des and Maureen Custerson.
He was a younger brother to Rosemary and they lived at the time in Kerrs Lane, Narre Warren North. Des and Maureen then relocated to the family home at 4 Sunset Grove in Dandenong South, where they were soon joined by the arrivals of Bernadette, Neil and Josephine and the Custerson family was complete.
Dicky fondly recalled those childhood days in Dandenong, surrounded by his own loving family and many uncles, aunts and cousins. He always said “they didn’t have much, but they had a lot” and that his parents did a good job bringing them up.
He was a good kid, never got into too much trouble and was a natural leader. Kids were drawn to him because of his larger than life stature and spirit and he made friends easily.
Street cricket in Dandenong was a cosmopolitan affair, with a variety of nationalities helping to make it a scaled down version of World Series Cricket. In a sign of things to come, the games always ran smoothly when Dicky was playing, as he took on the role of manager, umpire and captain using his leadership and communication skills to make it a fair game for all so that everyone got a bat and a bowl.
He would often say: “It’s important that everyone gets a lick of the icy pole”.
The Custersons were a musical family and it played such a key role in his formative years.
The kids often filled in for their parents’ band The Chubbies and also went on to play gigs as the Custerson Family Band. “We were a bit like the Partridge Family,” Dick would say, referring to the hit television series of the 1970s.
Dicky spoke often about his wonderful memories of the family band and he also enjoyed jamming and playing with his high school mates in a band called Passenger.
Later, he formed a duet Double Shot with good mate Andrew Schultz and they regularly packed out venues like The Settlement Hotel.
Andrew was a workmate of Dicky’s wife Leanne, a Cranbourne girl he met at a dance and instantly summed up as “really bubbly and full of life”. They met 36 years to the day of his passing and were married in St Agatha’s Catholic Church – over the road from where Leanne grew up and the same venue as his funeral.
Dicky’s work life started young, leaving school at 16 to work in the electrical industry as a sales cadet at Warburton and Frankie in South Melbourne.
His mum Maureen took Dicky to this job interview and when he returned he said “I really hope I get this job”. Maureen asked him why and he replied: “So I can buy a hamburger with the lot”. Dicky got the job, and after receiving his first pay, he arrived home with seven hamburgers with the lot – one for each member of the family. “How many 16 year olds would do that?” Mr Lovett asked.
He went from there to work for Middy’s as a sales representative, all the time keeping his hand in with the music.
Dicky was destined to move into the area of entertainment and sports management, right from the days when his parents would throw him the keys to the Blue Hi-Aux van to drive the gear and manage gigs for the family band.
A Positive Move was formed two decades ago, starting with the Battle of the Bands at the Settlement Hotel.
Dicky and good mate Dave Whalen were soon doing the legendary Pie Nights as fund-raisers for local sporting clubs, enlisting the help of sports personalities and comedians along the way.
Bouyed by the success of the Pie Nights, A Positive Move branched out into the realm of sportsman’s nights and grand final breakfasts. He got to work alongside legends of the sports and entertainment world, but was never one to name drop. Everyone was equal in Dicky’s world.
One of the more ambitious projects in those early years was to take the show on the road for a two-week Grandstand of Sports tour of Tasmania with good mate Paul Hudson and comedians Dave Butler and Dave Collie. Hudson, a former Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs player, made the AFL All-Australian team that year but forfeited the right to play to help his mate out with the Tasmanian trip. “You don’t forget that sort of thing,” Dicky said in an interview with Star in 2010.
One of his proudest achievements was the establishment of the A Positive Move Foundation, which raises money for those less fortunate.
Dicky loved the Walt Disney edict: “If you can dream it, you can do it”.
In 2011 he brought out cricket legends Sir Ian Botham, Sir Viv Richards and Sir Richard Hadlee and the A Day with Three Knights event packed out the Peninsula function centre at Docklands.
The success of that event helped fund a family trip to Disneyland – something Dicky had always dreamt of doing. The regular family holidays were to Port Fairy, where he cherished precious time spent with Leanne and the kids.
Dicky was a perfectionist and driven to improve his management skills a band was introduced to his Franklin Covey diary by Max Walker 16 years ago.
This helped Dicky stay true to his life’s mission and values, which were written into the diary each year and had a very familiar tone.
The mission statement in the pages of the diary read:
“To thank God and acknowledge him for the wonderful gifts he has given me.
“A wonderful family to love and cherish and to build a loving healthy environment to develop and grow in.
“Always be cheerful and to love life – communicate and respect people of all walks of life.
“To lead and show strength, to always do the right thing and treat people with respect and kindness.
“To enjoy and love life.”
His family and many friends would agree – it was a mission accomplished.
