Stanthorpe has lost a well-known face with the death of Peter Reeves, who passed away in the town’s hospital on April 16 at the age of 83 after a long battle with illness.
Peter would have been familiar to many as the co-owner of the town’s Holden dealership, Central Motors, and to many more as a passionate and knowledgeable racehorse owner, breeder and punter, whose green-and-white silks were seen atop winners including Huntington Girl, Grouse Lane, Prince Hakeem, Princess Margaret and, latterly, Jewel-winning mare Kisukano.
He was also a dedicated family man who was married to his wife Dell, nee Sullivan, for 58 years.
Meeting at a dance in Stanthorpe in 1960, the couple were married three days after Christmas in 1963, at Warwick’s St Mary’s Catholic Church, on a day remembered in family lore as the “hottest in history”. They went on to have six children and, eventually, 14 grandchildren, who filled their home with love and laughter at every opportunity.
Central Motors had been established by Peter’s father Bob Reeves just before World War II, and Peter began working there in the late 1950s, entering a partnership with his father before becoming co-owner with his brother Michael. These were the glory years of the Australian car industry and of Holden itself, with the dealership’s first Commodore rolling out of the doors in November 1978. Central Motors remained a familiar landmark in Maryland Street until moving to a larger site just over Quart Pot Creek in 2005, trading there for another 13 years until the demise of Holden forced its closure.
Peter’s love of his family and friends was matched only by his lifelong love of horse racing, and Saturday afternoons were dedicated to following the fortunes of various runners and riders, frequently with a glass of red wine to hand, or, if the going was good, a tumbler of Johnnie Walker.
A meeting at a family wedding in the 1990s with up-and-coming Toowoomba-based trainer Michael Nolan led to a productive partnership, with horses like Grouse Lane, Prince Hakeem, Princess Margaret and Anabasca becoming familiar names to many punters. It was when the Nolan-trained Kisukano saluted in the $500,000 Jewel on the Gold Coast in 2020 that Peter, who was by then in the midst of regular bouts of chemotherapy, enjoyed arguably his biggest win. In a Facebook post, Michael Nolan recalled Peter telling him the victory was “better than any medication I have ever had“.
Fittingly, Peter’s final outing from his hospital bed was a visit to the Border Park property to run his eye over the latest addition to the stable, a six-month old foal out of Kiss for Gran by Headwater.
Peter Reeves passed away peacefully in Stanthorpe hospital on the day after Good Friday with his family by his side, after a battle with cancer which began with his first diagnosis a full 12 years before. It was a battle he fought with good humour and immense bravery, his positive attitude an inspiration to all who knew him. He is survived by his wife Dell, children David, Robert, Matthew, Rebecca, Jonathan and Bridget and their families, as well as his siblings Helen, Rod, Michael, Genevieve and Mary Louise. Family and friends gathered at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Stanthorpe earlier this week to bid farewell to a man who will live long in the memories of many.
