“TEX Rehe had diesel in his veins.”
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Lavington truck driver Phil Grenfell could not be any more certain of the fact when he contacted The Border Mail yesterday.
“Tex had trucks in his blood,” Mr Grenfell said.
“His dad had a truck called Blue Max that he admired and if you sat him down now he could talk about trucks all day.
“Not many drivers go on to own their own fleet but Tex was a remarkable man and he ended up owning 18 or 19 B-doubles.”
He was one of a list of people who contacted The Border Mail wanting to pay tribute to Mr Rehe and his wife, Robyn, killed in a tragic car accident on the Maroondah Highway on Sunday night.
He met Mr Rehe 30 years ago after helping him get a job at Les Hanel’s Transport Services.
“He was the kind of guy who’d do anything for anyone and if someone said a bad word about him he’d forgive them and give them a second chance,” Mr Grenfell said.
“Everyone in the trucking industry, from Melbourne right through to Queensland, knew it was him who had died long before the news reports. His death has left a lot of heartbroken truckies behind, that’s for sure.”
Claire Camden yesterday rang from Melbourne to speak of her family’s grief.
She was friends with Robyn’s sister and the two were pregnant in hospital together before their sons met and became best friends at St Augustine’s Primary School.
“Tex and Robyn were such loving parents and they were all very close,” she said.
Ms Camden said Mrs Rehe was always happy and always there in times of need.
“If we needed someone to take the kids for the weekend she was always there,” Ms Camden said.
Another long-distance caller, Damian Jakovac, called from Sunbury to reminisce on “jamming sessions” in Mr Rehe’s garage.
“... me and a mate used to take our guitars to his house, pick out a song he liked and he used to go wild on the drums,” he said.