Reg Whitelaw was known affectionately as “Mr Gumi”. 

The Central Wagga Lions stalwart floated an idea for a seven kilometre drift down the Murrumbidgee River, which later became an institution that attracted 15,000 participants at its peak in the late 1980s.

Mr Whitelaw was also a driving force behind the Festival of Wagga, which once ran for two weeks with activities every day, including 50 floats parading down Baylis Street. 

Former chairman of Festival of Wagga Mark Hillis credited a chance encounter between his predecessor and Miss Teen America in Sydney as the catalyst for an unlikely partnership between the beauty pageant and NSW’s largest inland city.

“Some Wagga Lions Club members, including Reg, ran into Miss Teen America and her chaperone in Sydney and they all had a ball,” Mr Hillis said.

“After that, Miss Teen America would come to Wagga every year and the chairman of the festival would travel to a 250,000-strong street parade in Minneapolis.

“The Gumi Race was part of the Festival of Wagga, which Reg started in the days before the fun police killed everything and it was massive in its day.

“He had a great sense of humour and made you feel like a long-lost best friend every time you saw him.”

Mr Whitelaw and his wife Maureen came to Wagga in 1970 with every intention of staying for two years, but fell in love with the local lifestyle and community. 

Mr Whitelaw’s son Brett, one of four children, remembered his father as a “community man and family man who was great to his kids”.

“He made plenty of sacrifices to be so involved with the Wagga community; our whole family stopped for a month during the Gumi festival,” Brett said.

Fishing mate Brian Sheppard, who served on the board of CanAssist with Mr Whitelaw, described him as “very selfless”.

“He was a great bloke who would try to help anyone,” Mr Sheppard said.

“He was well known around town because he was involved in everything.”

Mr Whitelaw succumbed to cancer a week ago and will be laid to rest after a private funeral on Thursday.