"Chevalier College will remember John in our thoughts and prayers over the coming days and will work with his family, friends, classmates and colleagues to find a suitable occasion in the future to bring the community together for a fitting memorial service".
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This is the message of Chevalier College principal following the passing of John Fahey AC on September 12.
The message from the college continued: "Chevalier College and its community mourn the passing today of one of its most outstanding alumni John Fahey AC, a member of the Class of 1962."
Chevalier College is now a secondary co-educational day school.
In 1958 when John enrolled as a state bursary student it was primarily an all-boys boarding school.
The College is a Catholic congregational school founded in 1946 and run under the auspices of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart order.
College Board chairman Matthew Waugh, from the Class of 1961 was himself a contemporary of John Fahey and has remained friends in the years since graduating.
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"John Fahey represented many of the best attributes of a Chevalier student and ranks most highly in regard among our alumni for those reasons," he said.
"We offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife Colleen and his children, grandchildren and extended family.
"The sadness of John's loss will also be felt by his classmates and many in the wider community."
John Fahey's children Matthew (CPS 1987), Melanie (CPS 1990) and Tiffany (CPS 1996) also all attended Chevalier College.
College principal Chris McDermott said John remained a champion for Chevalier all his life and was looked up to by many across all generations of past students and also by the present-day community.
"In 2016 he was awarded the Esprit du Chevalier Medal, the College's highest public honour, which translates from the French as "Spirit of the Knight".
"The outstanding career of public service that John devoted to his region, state, country and indeed to the world, is testimony to that award.
President of the Chevalier Past Students Mark Wallace (CPS 1976) said "the passing of John Fahey at the age of 75 is poignant as in under six months we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the college that he loved so much and which he himself said many times played such a big part in the formation of his character."
"That was also a wonderful formative era for Chevalier and to see many of that generation leaving us now is a source of sadness," he said.
"John was a leader at the school, not only was he captain of the First XI cricket team and a vital member of arguably the greatest First XV rugby team that has ever taken the field for Chevalier but he was also a student leader in the Young Catholic Society.
"He is remembered outside the school too, as it is part of local folklore at HarbisonCare, the aged cared facility down the road from Chevalier, that John Fahey used to come down as a schoolboy in the 1950s and chop firewood for the elderly residents during winter as an act of kindness."
His contemporary Matt Waugh concluded that John Fahey, like almost all the students of that time, also held great admiration for the then College Rector Fr Tyson Doneley.
"In many ways John lived up to ideals that we saw in Fr Doneley," he said.
"Not only did John excel in sport like Fr Doneley, but he went on in public life to show the same quiet unassuming leadership that emphasised character, courage, and devotion in service to the community.
"Both men lived up to the College's Latin motto - Fortes in Fide 'Strong in Faith'."
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