Vale Leonard Balfour, a true Mooroopna spirit

His life was celebrated by many at the Sir Ian McLennan Centre in Mooroopna on August 24, where he was honoured with a fireman’s funeral.

Leornard was born in Shepparton on March 6, 1973, the eldest of four boys born to Valda and Robert Balfour.

Speaking at his funeral, Leonard’s three brothers said despite being born in Shepparton, he was a “true-spirited Mooroopna boy”.

He grew up there and never left, even buying his grandparents’ house after starting a family with the love of his life, Leonie, and her daughter Melissa.

Leonie and Leonard met in the late 1990s and got married in 2004. They welcomed their son Mitchell into the world in 2000, followed by their daughter Mia in 2002.

One of Leonard’s best-known community endeavours was being a member of the CFA Mooroopna Fire Brigade.

He first joined as a junior member in 1989, and worked his way up to first lieutenant by the time he passed away.

Leonard received many service awards over his time with the CFA, including a 30-year CFA life member service and a National Emergency Medal for the Black Saturday Fires.

Unfortunately, he was unable to attend Mooroopna’s most recent awards night to receive his CFA 35-year Life Member Service Award, which was presented to Leonie during a celebration of his life.

From a young age, Leonard was always interested in anything that had wheels.

This sparked his life’s passion of driving coaches, leading him all over the country and taking many groups away on tour.

After he bought the Echuca Specialist School bus in 2009, the Balfour’s Mooroopna empire began and only grew from there.

The business now has 13 buses and does school runs as well as trips to Melbourne and through the centre of Australia. It will keep running in his memory.

Leonie said one of her fondest memories with Leonard was the 10 days in April she spent on tour with him and the Torquay Ladies Probus Club as they travelled to South Australia.

She said seeing his dream and passion firsthand was inspiring, and made her proud of the amazing man he was, and forever grateful for the life they got to share.

“That was the last trip he ever did,” she said.

“He was still going the month he died, nothing got him down.

“He absolutely loved going up the centre.

“It really opened my eyes to the rapport he had with these people.

“A few of them came up for the funeral.”

Mia Balfour said her favourite memories with her father were touring. She’ll always remember listening to music, sight-seeing and taking photos when they stopped along the way.

Leonard’s family remembered he would often send them one-of-a-kind beautiful photos of sunsets while on his travels, captioned “another day at the office”.

And his photos were one of a kind, because they would always have some sort of obstacle in the way, like his finger.

Melissa Zini said her father was a “very community-minded person”, who was always willing to help out where he could.

“He would give you the shirt off his own back, and never expect anything else in return,” she said.

“But he had people that would do anything for him as well.

“He never thought he deserved that, and he never could understand why people would be like that, but it was because he was like that with them.”

This especially rang true in 2020, after he was named the Mooroopna Citizen of the Year, an award he was honoured and humbled to receive.

Leonie said her husband was a well-loved larrikin — a true gentleman, who was one of a kind.

“He was just a community-minded bloke,” she said.

“He was always there to help anybody in need.

“He did everything for the community and never expected anything.

“He never complained and never asked, ‘why me?’

“A lot of people didn’t even know he was sick.”

Leonard was first diagnosed with cancer in December 2005, and began treatment in 2006, the same year that he and Leonie tragically lost their son Mitchell at six years old.

After some treatment, he recovered and “got on with life”, but the cancer continued to return over the next 19 years.

Leonard’s funeral was unique, just like him.

Melissa and Mia paid tribute to him in their own way, using phrases he would often say as a way to say goodbye to him.

And if there was one thing Leonard’s family remembered him for, it was his punctuality, or lack thereof.

For somebody who had a strict schedule to follow in his professional life, Leonard was always late to personal events.

“We’d always joke, you’re going to be late to your own funeral,” Melissa said.

So, his family turning up late to his funeral and starting the service five minutes late in true Leonard fashion just “had to be done”.

As his health deteriorated over the past year, his desire to keep working and living life to the fullest never wavered.

Leonard leaves behind his wife, Leonie, his two daughters, Mia and Melissa, and two granddaughters.