By NOEL MURPHY
CLOTHES make the man, so say commentators from Shakespeare to Mark Twain, and Geelong Ford worker Daryl O’Connor is hardly one to disagree.
For the past 30 years he’s been regularly garbed in a blue Ford jacket that has been witness to all the major events in his life.
Mr O’Connor clocked up three decades of service at Ford this week, marking the occasion with a special dedication to the weathered true blue that’s kept pace with some of the best days of his life.
“In some ways it’s become a metaphor for my life and I’ll be buggered if I’ll part with it,” he said.
“I wore this jacket when I first met my future ex-wife, I wore it to the footy when I watched Gary Ablett senior kick his 100th goal, I was wearing it when I told my workmates I was going to become a father for the first time and I was wearing it when I was told to rush into the hospital because I was going to become a father for the second time.
“I wore it when we marched from Ford to Rippleside Park in a bid to retain jobs in our city, I wore it when we marched in support of Geelong nurses and again in protest against Workchoices.
“I was wearing it as I watched the parade down Malop St after Geelong won the AFL premiership in 2007.”
Mr O’Connor was also wearing the jacket when Ford dropped its bombshell, announcing the impending closure of its manufacturing after almost 90 years in Geelong.
The jacket saw “many a tear shed by fellow workmates as they pondered their future and struggled to come to terms with the news”, he said.
“It’s been covered in grease and oil and been through the wash as many times, as I have myself.”
