Dr Don Reiman – A Man of Faith and Learning
18 October, 2024Family, friends, and past students gathered in St Joseph’s Cathedral on Monday 14 October to honour and celebrate the life of Dr Don Reiman who passed away peacefully on Wednesday 9 October at the Fitzroy Community Hospice.
Don had spent some 50 years teaching in Catholic Education, at St Stanislaus College, North Rockhampton, Marian-St Stanislaus College, North Rockhampton, Emmaus College, North Rockhampton and then at The Cathedral College, Rockhampton from 1996 to 2011 at which time he announced his retirement from the classroom. In later years, Don spent time at the Catholic Education Office where he continued to make a much-valued contribution to the Ministry of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Rockhampton.
Don was a brilliant English teacher who influenced a generation of young people in the art of thinking and expressing their thoughts through both the written and spoken word. There would be thousands of past students who were blessed to be taught by Dr Don Reiman and who would offer him their sincere and heartfelt thanks.
Don had a special gift of mentoring young teachers, and this was of significant benefit to his colleagues at the Colleges where he taught. Don’s legacy will live on through the many outstanding teachers he mentored who today continue passing on to their students a love of the English language for which Don had such a passion.
Former Director of Catholic Education, Miss Leesa Jeffcoat taught with Don at St Stanislaus and Marian-St Stanislaus Colleges and for a short time at The Cathedral College. In remembering and honouring Don, Miss Jeffcoat said, “As a young teacher, I learnt so much about teaching from Don. He inspired me professionally and his strength of character and integrity helped shape my journey as a leader in Catholic Education. Don was a man of deep faith, and I was honoured, along with other caring and compassionate friends of Don, to have walked alongside him on his final journey to the God he loved and served so well throughout his life”.
Don’s memory will live on in the hearts of those who loved him and those whose lives he positively touched as a teacher, mentor and dear friend.
