One sign in the driveway read, 'Farm fresh and seasonal vege's' and the other sign, just above it, said 'Closed.'

Reality bit hard at the sight of these messages, but it wasn’t until the delivery driver dashed onto the verandah and yelled, ‘Any free-range eggs for Maurie,’ that the loss really hit home.

His son replied softly, ‘No.  No eggs today, or in the future.  Dad has passed away.'

The man stood stock still totally unaware 80-year-old Maurie Gray had died on Thursday in a Newcastle hospital after suffering heart and kidney complications following a brief illness.

The driver apologised, offered his sympathies and headed back to his truck to continue his egg deliveries.

The day before his funeral Muswellbrook Mayor Martin Rush asked councillors and members of the public gallery to remain standing for a minute’s silence in deference to Mr Gray.

“Sadly Maurie Gray, probably the last market gardener in the Upper Hunter, has passed away.

“Maurie was also closely associated with the greyhound club in Muswellbrook and was a larger-than-life personality who was always cheerful and always positive about Muswellbrook,” he said.

Maurie Gray was farewelled by nearly 200 mourners at St Alban’s Anglican Church in Muswellbrook, among them the current and former members for Upper Hunter, Michael Johnsen and George Souris.

In a moving eulogy, his son Richard paid tribute to the market gardener, weather forecaster and greyhound racing broadcaster he knew as ‘daddy o father boy.’

“He was a fine man.  He was a good man.  He was generous, kind-hearted and hard-working.  He is a local Muswellbrook legend [and] he was my hero,” Richard Gray told the mourners of the man who arrived in Muswellbrook from Wallsend with his family when he was 12.

While Maurie’s amazing green thumb emerged at an early age and stayed with him until the day he died, Richard reminded the congregation of his father’s other talents – weather forecasting and greyhound racing.

“When the [Greyhound] Club’s broadcaster fell ill in 1966, Maurie took over the role and continued broadcasting the dogs at Muswellbrook for the next 50 years.

“Maurie’s phrase ‘Green light’s showing, power’s on, away goes the bunny, about to go,’ will forever live on in greyhound racing folklore.

“Maurie was also legendary throughout the community for his weather forecasting … a skill that went hand-in-hand with vegetable growing,” he said.

After the service, wife of nearly 60 years, Katherine, spoke fondly of the parts of Maurie Gray we didn’t know.

“We met at an old time dance at St Mary’s Hall in Scone and Maurie could certainly dance and, what’s more, he kept coming back,” Mrs Gray said with some surprise.

The couple were married in August 1956.

Maurie and Katherine eventually moved to their New England Highway location on the Hunter River, growing beans and potatoes to start before broadening their product range to sell to passers-by and the local community.

“You’d be surprised the number of people who didn’t know how to cook spinach; they hadn’t been taught.

“So Maurie sold them the spinach and I gave them the recipe of how to cook it," Mrs Gray said.

“He could fix anything, too, especially mowers and you’d find him always going off to give someone a hand to get something started that wouldn’t go.

“He was such a happy man and he made other people around him feel happy because of his wonderful attitude to life,” Mrs Gray added.

For the family of Maurie Gray the loss of this powerhouse is immeasurable.

For the rest of us, well, not seeing the golden flash of that 1976 Holden Premier Kingswood station wagon in the paddock - and Maurie Gray working nearby to provide us with the locally-grown food our bodies need - will take some getting used to.

Thanks, Maurie, for feeding us; for being a steward of the land; and, above all, for leaving a legacy for our children.

Vale, Maurie Gray, vale.

Maurie Gray is survived by his widow Katherine and sons Richard and Lindsay and their families.  The couple lost their only daughter more than a decade ago.