A tribute to a great man: Rex Nibloe

18th December 2020 | Obituaries

Rex was born on 17 June 1941. Unbeknown to him, he was destined to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps in the motor trade.

Rex started his working life as a mechanic with a yearning to run his own garage and in 1970 he did just that. Even though he had three young sons, Rex took the gamble.

Together we worked hard to make a future for our family, establishing Meadowbrook Garage and making it the great success which it still is today. Although Rex spent hours working to build his garage business, he still had time to restore vintage tractors with his three sons. Needless to say, they would also follow in their father’s footsteps.

On leaving school both Peter and Steven joined Rex at the garage. In 1987 we suffered a tragic loss when Steven was killed in a car accident. This was a battle for all of us as a family to come to terms with and Rex never did. After this Paul joined Rex and Peter at the garage.

In retirement

Rex went on to retire, eventually finding the time to restore his own Land Rovers and classic cars. When Paul left Meadowbrook to start his own garage, Rex, with all his years of experience, thrived helping him. Sticking with family tradition the garage was called Harcourt Garage, the same name used by Rex’s grandfather many years previously.

In 2015, Rex was dealt his final blow with the devastating diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. This was the beginning of the path to a long and extremely hard, sad goodbye to the man we all knew and loved dearly. As the illness progressed, we lost a little more of Rex week by week.

With the help of family, carers and friends, I was able to keep Rex at home, the place he wanted to be. Without their help and support this wouldn’t have been possible, as this dreadful illness made us so very isolated. Sadly Rex lost his battle on 10 October, with all his loved ones by his side.

A memory page for The Alzheimer’s Society was set up in Rex’s name. An amazing amount has been raised, in excess of £1,000. Thank you all so much. This will go to a wonderful charity. We hope that one day funds can be raised to help find a cure for this terrible disease.

The funeral

Rex’s funeral cortege left from his home address on Langton Road. The streets were lined with friends and neighbours wanting to pay their last respects to an amazing man; all the way to Meadowbrook Garage with its crowds of people. Here a brief pause and onto the A6 with another short stop at Harcourt Garage, before arriving at Great Glen Crematorium. Seeing all these people helped to make a sad day a little better. Thank you all. It will never be forgotten. Rex is now in his final resting place with his much loved son Steven.

I would finally like to say a big thank you to all my family and friends, who have helped Rex and myself through many dark days. You picked me up when I was down to enable me to give Rex the best care and quality of life he deserved. I know it was hard for each and every one of you. You are too many for me to name personally but a huge thank you to everyone.

Joan Nibloe