Tribute to an industry legend
Pioneers of the retirement living industry, Tom Gannon (Senior) and his wife Mavis (1935-2016) didn’t just create a company, but a legacy that senior Australians continue to enjoy today.
Tom, who was born in West Wyalong, NSW, in 1935, passed away peacefully in Adelaide on 14 February at the age of 84.
Tom and Mavis began building retirement estates in Adelaide and regional Australia with one thing in mind – to give ageing Australians a dignified, independent lifestyle. For more than 30 years, they did just that.
Tom started work as a sharecropper on farms near West Wyalong, but after the double floods of 1956 and 1957, pursued shearing in the Riverina. The tyranny of distance and strain on his young family meant relocation to Wagga Wagga and Griffith, and eventually Whyalla, where he found work as a carpenter on the steelworks.
In the late 1960s, Tom and Mavis started their own construction company and in 1973, with their four children in tow, moved to Adelaide. When things got tough in Adelaide later that decade, Tom and Mavis and their two sons went on the move up and down the eastern seaboard following work. This often meant living in caravans as they regularly moved to places as far apart as Wollongong and Bowen.
During 60 years of marriage, Tom and Mavis relocated more than 40 times across five states and territories, following the work around much of regional Australia.
Back in Adelaide, their first foray into creating dedicated and affordable housing for retirees started in 1989 when Tom and Mavis bought the decommissioned Vermont Girls High School, in Adelaide’s south-western suburbs, and transformed it into their first retirement estate. They went on to build and develop 17 retirement communities across Australia over the next 30 years.
The success of their first estate inspired further development in South Australia, ranging from Somerton Park to Mount Barker, Kilkenny to Port Lincoln. They would soon tackle interstate communities in regional NSW at Wagga Wagga, Albury, Coffs Harbour, Tamworth and Griffith, and more recently in Wodonga and Ballarat in Victoria.
Their commitment to retirement living stemmed from a strong belief that older Australians deserved more dignity and the opportunity to experience an enjoyable lifestyle with great activities at their fingertips.
Tom and Mavis’ dedication to the success of their communities would often see them become the first residents in each estate, immersing themselves in their future communities, and ensuring the design of the homes was suitable for the needs of incoming residents.
Throughout this time Tom was a significant contributor to the wider retirement living industry, especially in South Australia, with the business having built almost 2,000 homes for senior Australians.
Their legacy is ensured through the experiences of approximately 3,000 residents across the country who feel at home in a community created by Tom and Mavis Gannon, trailblazers of the retirement living industry.