Local resident buys a special round in Australia




Photo Courtesy of JUSTIN LLOYD/The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)  HONORING HIS FATHER'S LAST WISH--Jerry Lewine lifts a toast at the Bourbon Beefsteak, an Australian pub. His late father, Dr. Bernie Lewine, visited the same tavern while on R&R (rest and relaxation) during World War II. Bernie was impressed by the kindness of the strangers in Australia, and Jerry was pleased to fulfill his father's last fancy: to buy a round of beer for everyone at the pub.

Photo Courtesy of JUSTIN LLOYD/The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia) HONORING HIS FATHER’S LAST WISH–Jerry Lewine lifts a toast at the Bourbon Beefsteak, an Australian pub. His late father, Dr. Bernie Lewine, visited the same tavern while on R&R (rest and relaxation) during World War II. Bernie was impressed by the kindness of the strangers in Australia, and Jerry was pleased to fulfill his father’s last fancy: to buy a round of beer for everyone at the pub.


By Sylvie Belmond
Acorn Staff Writer

An Agoura resident stirred a commotion when he scheduled an out of the ordinary stop at a pub in Sydney, Australia last month. He did it to honor his father’s last wish.


Before Dr. Bernie Lewine died of cancer in 2002, he told his son Jerry, "I’ve had a great life and have been all around the world, but what I didn’t get to do is go back to Sydney to find a pub and buy everyone a beer."


Although this request was unusual, Jerry knew it meant a lot to his father.


In 1943, Lewine, an army eye doctor at Port Moresby Hospital in New Guinea, was scheduled for some long-awaited R&R. He longed for a beer, but beer wasn’t available in New Guinea.


So Lewine headed to Sydney, hopeful that he could satisfy his taste buds with the familiar brew. "But it was wartime, beer was rationed and bars were not open much," said Jerry, as he enthusiastically told his father’s story.


Eventually the young GI found a bar that was open, and he walked in with anticipation. However, the packed bar didn’t seem overly hospitable—until a voice called out loudly, "Hey, let’s buy this Yank a beer."


Thereafter, the beers kept flowing at the King’s Cross bar and the young GI was moved by the kindness of strangers. Ever since, Bernie yearned to return the favor to the Australians.


But in 2002, when Bernie was about to go on his trip, cancer struck and he never completed his mission.


That’s when Jerry, an electrical engineer retired from broadcasting, decided he would go "shout a bar," as Australians call it, on behalf of his father. But tracking down the exact pub where Bernie had so enjoyed himself wasn’t easy. Jerry first contacted the Sydney Chamber of Commerce in an attempt to find the tavern, which, as his father described, had a horseshoe-shaped bar. The Sydney chamber suggested the only possible pub, a place now called the Bourbon Beefsteak.


Jerry then contacted the pub by e-mail to advise the owner about his plans to come and honor his father’s dying wish: "to buy a round of beer for everyone present at the pub." Unbeknownst to him, the bar contacted the Sydney press to advise them of Jerry’s arrival and about his novel request.


When Jerry arrived at the bar, he was treated like a king. After an introduction by the bar manager, Jerry explained why he was there and then he bought the house a round.


Jerry’s wife, Sheryl, accompanied him on the trip. "It was a fairly young crowd, lots of people coming after work, they were amongst themselves . . . so it was interesting when they turned off the lights and the bar manager started to talk," she recalled.


At first his comments weren’t being heard because customers continued their own conversations, but eventually, when Jerry began to tell his story, he captured the attention of the crowd and the place got quiet.


Gradually people realized he was talking about the same pub. "By the time he was done, it was just pandemonium," said Sheryl. "People were touched by it."


"It could have gone either way, people could have just taken the beer and not cared, but instead people started to talk about their own parents and they started to relate on some level.


"The thing I find so positive is the man (Bernie Lewine) had a wonderful life, a good marriage, he was successful and he traveled. We should all be so lucky," Sheryl said. But he still wanted to fulfill this last wish, to buy a beer for everyone in return for the kindness of others 50 years earlier.


"It’s just nice that Jerry was able to do that for his dad," said Sheryl, noting her husband was on cloud nine because everything went so well.


Like his father 50 years earlier, Jerry was impressed by the kindness of the strangers down under. "The people there (in Australia) are so friendly, it’s just built into their character. I see that what my dad said is true," Jerry said.


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