Ernest Harry Lakin was born on October 17, 1899, in Tumby Bay, South Australia, his father, Henry, was 30 and his mother, Alice, was 19. On the 17th October having turned 19 years of age Ernie enlisted into the Australian Imperial Forces on the 4th Nov 1918 but due to the Armistice being signed on the 11th Nov 1918 he was later honourably discharged on the 24th December 1918 with the First World War finally coming to an end. Raised on the family farm in Whites River near Tumby Bay, ‘Ernie’, as he preferred to be called became a good horseman and travelled throughout the West Coast doing odd jobs but often getting into a bit of mischief with his mates. He met his soon to be Bride Elizabeth Mabel Marshall in Kimba and they later married on February 13, 1924, in his hometown of Tumby Bay. They had two children during their marriage son Mervyn Ernest and daughter Maxine Moira. Ernie worked most of his adult life on the wharfs in Port Adelaide after he and Mabel separated before the Second World War. Neither he or Mabel ever remarried and Ernie lived out his days in John Street, Semaphore a few doors up from his son Mervyn. He died on November 7, 1976, in Semaphore, South Australia, at the age of 77 Years. The eldest son of Henry Priest Lakin, Ernie was a man’s man and admired by most as a true gentleman. We loved our Pa and often think of him when raising a cold glass of Coopers Stout.
***** Rest in eternal Peace *****
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