Self-confessed adrenalin-junkie Malcolm Stone loves the thrill.
Nowadays spending time with his family at Juniper Hilltop is just as fulfilling for him as skydiving was a decade ago.
Malcolm was born in Kanpur, India and immigrated to Perth with his family when he was two years old due to the Partition of India.
He grew up in Guildford and loved what Perth’s eastern suburbs had to offer.
“It was a fantastic place to grow up when I was younger,” he said.
“I used to run around the place. An older guy helped me learn how to train pigeons, so I bred them for a while.”
A lifelong love affair with skydiving and flying started when he was a teenager on an afternoon drive with a mate of his who was older and had recently got his licence.
“We were driving down to Rockingham and we had the roof back,” he said.
“I looked up and said ‘look it’s a parachute. Right, let’s follow it’. We followed the parachute as it came to land.”
Watching the parachutist land motivated him to get his parents’ consent to jump. He soon completed two jumps and was hooked.
After leaving school, Malcolm took up an apprenticeship as an electrical fitter.
With six months remaining on his apprenticeship, he scratched an itch he had for national service and joined the army.
“I was always interested in the war. I played soldiers as a child,” he said.
“The Vietnam War was on and I wanted to serve.”
During his training with the army Malcolm was diagnosed as being colourblind. However, his diagnosis didn’t deter Malcolm’s resolve to serve his country.
“I wanted to stay in the army and the SAS wanted to keep me,” he said.
Malcolm worked as a Forward Scout and Machine Gunner.
In between tours of Vietnam, Malcolm met the apple of his eye, Ingrid, at a party in Brisbane.
“Ingrid was sitting on a nice lounge looking like a real honey,” he joked.
“I sat down near her and another bloke came over while I was there with two drinks in his hand. He said, ‘I’m sitting there’ and I said not anymore’.”
The rest as they say, is history.
Malcolm and Ingrid married in 1970 and later had daughters Jennifer and Caroline.
The couple relocated to WA in the mid-1970s and built the family home in Lesmurdie, which Ingrid still lives in today.
Despite being colourblind, he set up and ran an electrical business as well as some skydiving businesses which included drop zones along the way. During this time Malcolm got his pilot’s licence.
While being back in WA, Malcolm was able to reignite his passion for being in the air through skydiving and flying. He estimated he has completed about 5,500 jumps in his life.
“I was right into jumping,” he said.
“Then I got into flying. I bought two airplanes along the way. It was a great life.”
Malcolm was diagnosed with glaucoma, an eye condition that can lead to vision loss, when he was 38.
After a bike accident five years ago, Malcolm’s vision was impacted further, increasing his need for greater support. The accident led to him being a resident at Hilltop three and a half years ago.
His daughter Jennifer is now one of Malcolm’s carers, visiting her father most days and taking him to catch-up with loved ones on the weekends.
Malcolm said Jennifer was a first-class carer and couldn’t ask for any more support from her.
“Jen means a lot to me,” he said.
“I’m very grateful to have her. It’s been great having her as my carer over the years and now.”
Jennifer said she loves her father dearly and enjoys coming to Hilltop to spend time with him.
“Hilltop is very much a community,” she said.
“There is a lot of things happening. He loves doing the activities like the bus trips, they’ve always been a highlight.
“The therapy staff are A1. They are excellent and positive. I’m very impressed with the therapy staff.”
Jennifer said Hilltop has been good for her and other residents.
“Finding Hilltop was a godsend at the time. It’s very busy here but that keeps residents stimulated.”
National Carers Week is on until Saturday October 18. About three million Australians provide care to a loved one.
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