The last pieman of Canberra's south, Leicester Donoghoe was at peace in a funeral procession at Queanbeyan on Thursday afternoon, lead by his original pie cart, a 1936 Chevrolet van.
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Mourners remembered a man who made them feel like millionaires. His eldest son, Greg, gave thanks that his father's last wish had arrived, of being reunited with his younger brother Mark, who was killed tragically in 2005.
Collecting dairy farmers' milk on Christmas morning at Rutherford near Maitland, Mark Donoghoe, 38, had been phoning friends and family. He had his parents on the end of the line when his tanker rolled.
It split causing the cab to fill with milk and he began to drown in the milk.
"The farmer he was going to next, the cocky's young bloke heard the truck crash and raced down the paddock, kicked the windscreen out of the truck to get the milk out," Greg Donoghoe said. "Mark survived for 10 days before succumbing to his injuries."
During mass at St Raphael's Catholic Church on Thursday, Mr Donoghoe, 79, was remembered for delivering Wilkies pies, the best in town.
Born in Bungendore, he became an apprentice baker and pastry cook at Duncan's in Queanbeyan before joining Tom Wilkinson at the Top Hat Cafe in Manuka, from whom he later bought the pie cart.
Mr Donoghoe said, "He came home to Mum and said we just bought a pie cart," recalling the events of 1962. The family ran the business until the early 1990s.
"They used to get up in the morning, make 16 loaves of bread for sandwiches, two dozen bread rolls for the truck, plus all the other stuff. Mum and Dad did it all, us three boys had our jobs to do at home, pack trays out of the fridges and load them into the truck before school," Mr Donoghoe said.
The pieman rung a cowbell hanging outside his window to announce his arrival on a regular beat around Telopea Park School, government offices at Barton, East Block and West Block, the Tech College and bus depot at Kingston and Old Parliament House.
"When I was a kid I was with him in the school holidays before there was any water in the lake, I remember the Edmund Barton building foundations," Mr Donoghoe said.
He and brothers Philip and Mark also went fishing with their father at Woolgarlo, Lake Burrinjuck near Yass, Lake Eucumbene and Bermagui.
He delivered pies for 38 years, replacing the Chev with a Toyota HiAce. Copland College later restored the Chev. Mr Donoghoe's career ended swiftly when a tipper truck rear-ended him near HMAS Harman, breaking his neck in two places.
"I was driving log trucks at the time," says his son. "I got a phone call when I came out of the Brindabellas telling me that he had an accident. Numerous people he had served came to see him in hospital and at home, it was quite overwhelming actually.
"He had that effect on people, like, one of my mates Darren that he used to serve at the technical college sent me a message on Facebook." Darren had posted: "He'd always give you your change back and if it was $3 he would count it out: one million, two million, three million. You would walk away feeling like a rich man."
Mr Donoghoe brightened up after a change in medication briefly, before he died. His son said: "He kept telling us, all he wanted was to be with my younger brother Mark; he got his wish in the end. He was in a bit of pain."
