Mr Brown has been a constant through decades of change, good and bad, and says he’s likely worked his last day.

“I have four months long service and after three months I’ll decide.

“I’m playing it by ear – all I know is I won’t be around for a period of time.”

He admits he’s unlikely to return to his role at the hospital with his teary co-workers farewelling the hospital mainstay with cake last Friday.

He trained at Grafton Hospital and ventured to Tenterfield to undertake a one-year post graduate course in theatre work.

“I got married and couldn’t decide where we would go,” John said.

He was brought up on the coast At Coffs Harbour while his wife wanted a Tablelands move.

“We didn’t particularly want to go to Armidale or Tamworth and ended up here.”

Aside from a small stint in 1983 midwifing at King George Hospital in Sydney he’s been an ever-present at Tenterfield Hospital.

“Back then we did a lot of operations here and theatre twice a week.”

The hospital no longer does theatre and he’s seen the number of beds decline from 68 to 18.

He concedes things are very different now.

“Most staff then were young and vibrant. It’s still a pretty special place though.”

Gardener, Gary Gilbey, may be the only person at the hospital who has remained there for as long.

His wife Rhonda also works at the hospital and he says she’s likely to remain in her role for the foreseeable future.

“I found a poster way back that said if you love your job you don’t work a day in your life.”

John said that motto resonated with him and is applicable to his time at the hospital.

“I’d still like to have a bit of life after work while I still can though.”

For 25-years he’s been on call and concedes it’s a taxing job.

But he always wanted to work with people and considers himself lucky.

“I had a careers adviser at school and he tested to see what we qualified for – mine was a travelling salesman.”

Not something he could ever see himself doing.

“As a kid I’d get sick a bit and I think I’m a caring person – I just wanted to work with people.”

In his time he’s seen the industry transform and believes the onerous red tape placed on hospitals has taken away from their main objective.

“There’s so much paper work and red tape I think some are losing sight of patients.”

However, he now won’t need to worry himself with 2am callouts and the obstacles red tape imposes.

“I’m just going to relax and enjoy my time.

“Some things I’ve seen I’ll never forget but you harden up to things and I know I’ve done the best I can.”

He’s already planned out his first week of retirement.

“I’ll probably do some gardening and watch the cricket,” he said.