| Kevin Charles Reis
Hotelier 13-8-1917 to 28-2-2001 By Michele Kosky |
| A link with part of Melbourne's social history was severed last Wednesday with the death of Kevin Reis: hotelier to the noble, the brave, the intelligent and the belligerent at Naughton's Hotel, Parkville.
The pub was a popular drinking spot in the 1960s and 1970s, when students from Melbourne University and working men from Parkville mingled in the public bar under the benevolent eye of Kevin and his great lieutenant Rod Douglas. In the cool dark ladies' lounge, old women drank shandies and passed the time of day while young women dreamed of degrees and how to overcome male resistance to equality in the front bar. The hotel was purchased by the Naughton family on 24 March, 1916, and when Kevin Reis wed his beloved Nancy Naughton, the old hotel - with its wooden horseshoe-shaped bar, damp underground cellars and dingy ladies' lounge - gained a new lease of life. Good hoteliers need the tact of a diplomat, the intuition of a detective, the discretion of a priest and the patience of Job. Kevin Reis had all these qualities and more. Always interested in the other fellow; he ran a fine hotel that treated customers with respect, tolerated behaviour that would test the tolerance of many, and achieved all this with grace and humour. Kevin was born in Albury, a third-generation Australian. His family had arrived in 1852 from Germany in search of a peaceful place to farm. His great-grandfather bought land outside Albury and developed a thriving winery and produce business. Kevin's father Charles continued to expand the business and, as the family's fortunes grew, so did their standing in Albury. When Kevin was 13, his father died suddenly and the family moved to Melbourne. When Kevin met Nancy Naughton eight years later, it was the first time the veil of his father�s death began to lift. Together they had nine children, and their family home in Brighton remains. The home was self-sufficient, with bikes, clothes and toys all recycled - sometimes up to nine times. Kevin was akin to Noah in his tolerance of every conceivable animal his children kept at home: white mice, guinea pigs, goldfish, canaries, turtle, rabbit - and perhaps his home was the only one in Brighton that also kept a horse for good measure. A shy man, by nature, he blossomed in the atmosphere of Naughton's, dispensing a kind word, a firm look or an observation about Richmond Football Club - all with the prudence of a thinking man. Kevin is survived by his wife of 60 years, Nancy, and his nine children. He will be greatly missed, but perhaps he's pouring a drink in paradise. |
| The Age, Melbourne 8 March 2001 |