Milestone man is a jack-of-all-trades

Colin Resta has brought up 60 years of service to Piacentini and Son but has no plans to slow down.

The 78-year-old has been a dozer and scraper driver as well as a supervisor and now describes himself as a jack-of-all-trades who is also the “go-to person” whenever someone in the earthmoving company needs help.

Managing director Colin Piacentini, whose father Albert gave a then-teenage Colin Resta a job in 1956, said an internal article published about 15 years ago with the headline ‘Resta never rests’ was still true.

“Colin is very capable at what he does, can pass skills on to other people and nurture them,” Mr Piacentini said.

“He is highly motivated and this brushes on to other people.”

Mr Resta did not even realise he brought up the milestone late last month until it was pointed out to him.

He said an environment where every day was different helped keep him motivated and also credited the support of his wife Joyce.

“My wife still gets up and makes my crib every day and I never go to work without a shirt ironed,” Mr Resta said.

He described a focus on safety and the use of two-way radios as being some of the most significant changes during his 60 years of work.

Mr Resta is also heavily involved in speedway, now helping with track preparation after spending many years as a driver.