By Marg Stork
RETIRED Dandenong builder Piet ‘Peter’ Mettes died as he would have wished: among friends at the Green Table billiards club in Dandenong while enjoying a competition game of pool.
The 81-year-old suffered a suspected heart attack.
He is greatly missed by his wife Agnes, his five children and eight grandchildren, his friends at the billiards club, the Rotary Club of Dandenong and the Churchill Park Golf Club.
His career as a builder spanned about 40 years and he retired in 1999. He was a Rotary member for 28 years and was presented with a Paul Harris fellowship.
Mr Mettes was born in Sijbekarspel in the Netherlands, the son of Piet and Alida Mettes, and attended school in his home town.
Mr Mettes and his wife Agnes met in their homeland. Peter came to Australia in 1952 and Agnes followed a year later.
He was hard-working and versatile. In Australia, he worked as a farmhand in Koo Wee Rup, ran a milk bar in Alexandra, and then was a bricklayer and builder.
A crowd of 300 relatives and friends attended his funeral service in St Mary’s Catholic Church, Dandenong, the service being conducted by the Father Declan
O’Brien.
Mr Mettes’ ashes will be laid to rest in the church grounds.
