Mervyn, who passed away aged 96 last week, came to Bathurst in a horse and cart as a 10-year-old boy in 1928 and today, in a fitting tribute, a horse and cart will lead his funeral procession from St Michael and St John’s Cathedral past the family newsagency.

There is a story here, of course. 

When Mervyn was a boy, his father William raced Jack Tully in to Bathurst from Sofala on horseback to buy the newsagency in Stewart Street.

“My grandfather beat him and bought the shop,” Paul Theobald said.

“My grandfather, grandmother, my father and his sister then moved to Bathurst in a horse and cart. Dad was 10 years old.

“We thought it was fitting that he make his final journey by horse and cart.”

The cart will be pulled by Samson, a Sussex Punch, the breed from which all heavy horses come. 

The cart has been given a smart coat of paint and yesterday afternoon the family were grooming Samson ready for his important task.

Paul said his dad had been a fixture in the shop from the day he arrived in Bathurst 87 years ago.

“The first Advocate he ever sold was for a penny – we still have the penny,” he said.

Mervyn did try a bit of labouring for a local plumber when he was 20 to gain experience outside the newsagency. 

The job was to lay a pipe from Machattie Park to the Webb Building, and young Mervyn had the job of digging the trench and carrying the loads of bricks. 

“That was his first and last day as a labourer,” Paul said.

“After that he said he would stick with the shop.”

And stick with it he did. Mervyn Theobald spent every day in Theobald’s Newsagency right up until this last Christmas. 

Bill Theobald said he continued to go into the shop and chat with customers every day right up until the end.

“That’s why he loved the shop,” he said. 

“People started off as customers and ended up his friends.”

Mervyn was a keen cricketer as a young man and he loved his horse racing. 

His last horse, Bathurstian, raced last Tuesday. A television was brought into his hospital room so he could watch the race. 

Mervyn passed away the following day. 

He is survived by his wife Joyce, his daughter Shirley and sons John, Billy, Peter, Paul and Robert.

His funeral will be held at St Michael and St John’s Cathedral at 11am today.