HUNDREDS of mourners gathered at St Andrew's Presbyterian church in Forrest yesterday to remember Bob Knight, a ''quintessential Australian'' with a wicked sense of humour and a passion for trucking and dogs.
The church was filled with family, friends, truckies, and members of the German Shepherd Dog Club.
Mr Knight was killed by a bullet on June 25 as he drove his B-double past a shoot-out in Milperra in western Sydney.
Mr Knight's widow, Jeanette, was supported by family members as she walked into the church with her son David and grandson Josh.
The Knights, who lived in Macgregor, had been married for almost 46 years.
Among the mourners was radio 2UE presenter Murray Wilton, who forged a bond with Mr Knight during 12 years of calls he made on the road to Wilton's talkback radio show. Wilton said MrKnight was the kind of caller he didn't like to cut off.
''There was that odd occasion when you did drop the news, and you probably shouldn't have. Other listeners liked to hear what he had to say, and wanted to comment on it. He had a gravelly voice that had real character about it.''
Wilton had never met MrKnight, but they had exchanged several emails most with pictures attached of Mr Knight's prize-winning German shepherds and passed each other several times on the highway. ''He knew my car, so he would flash lights and toot the horn, and then we'd get on the UHF and chat until we ran out of space,'' Wilton said.
A truck driver for 30 years, Mr Knight was described as an excellent operator who fastidiously maintained his trucks and could pick a driver about to change lanes before the car's indicator came on.
Mick Richardson, his friend of more than 20 years, reckoned he would have driven six million kilometres with a spotless record, apart from one minor traffic infringement. Mr Knight's beloved white Kenwood prime mover led the cortege to Norwood Park for the cremation.
Mr Richardson, a fellow truck enthusiast, went on several long trips with MrKnight. During his eulogy he described his first introduction to ''Vanessa'', MrKnight's notorious impression of an amorous female truck driver that he often put out on CB radio when he was on the road.
David Knight remembered how hard it was to have a truckie father, absent for days at a time, and how precious it had been to share meals and a game of cards at the weekend. He tearfully recalled pleading with his father to be taken on the next trip.
'''No, David,' he said, 'it's too dangerous.' I said, 'But you go.' He had no answer. I never understood what that meant until I had my own kids,'' he said.
David was reported this week expressing anger at the way his father died. Visiting the site in Milperra where his father was shot, he was reported to have said, ''I thought it was just an accident but now I'm angry ... It's not the way my dad was supposed to die.''
After the funeral service, Mr Richardson said people were still struggling to come to terms with the way MrKnight had died.
''I think for a lot of people, myself included, it hasn't really sunk in. We just cannot believe it. The extraordinary circumstances, as I understand them, just beggar belief.''
Bob Knight is survived by his wife Jeanette, two children, David and Cathy, and three grandchildren, Josh, 20, Alli, 11, and Georgia, 3.