Beloved daughters of Glasgow mechanic pay tribute to their 'best friend'

George Jarvis was well-known for sharing the joy his twins Melissa and Olivia brought him in life.

The much-loved mechanic ran his own garage in Pollokshaws for more than 20 years and was trusted by his hundreds of customers, who were regularly told all about his daughters.

On the night of Friday, March 4, the 69-year-old left a pub in Shawlands to get a bus home when he was tragically hit by a car on Kilmarnock Road.

After being taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, George sadly died in the early hours of the Monday morning, leaving his daughters and family members devastated.

Melissa and Olivia, 22, spoke to the Glasgow Times to pay tribute to their dad, who they described as “the most genuine and kind person”.

“He had an absolute heart of gold”, Melissa said.

“He would honestly go above and beyond for anyone, anytime.

“If he saw someone stuck at the side of the road he’d pull over and check they were okay. Even in the garage, if someone couldn’t pay, he would be like ‘we’ll sort it out later’.

“When he figured out how eBay worked, he would get car parts and refurbish them if people couldn’t afford new parts.”

Meanwhile, Olivia explained how her dad had “run-around cars” he would lend to people as courtesy cars whilst theirs was getting fixed as he didn’t want anyone left without.

“When the pandemic hit, he was actually in the shielding category, but he was getting so stressed.

"He was like ‘these nurses need their motors, I’m not having them run around in death traps’, so he still went in every day to work,” Olivia added.

Despite nearing 70, George, who lived in Giffnock, still went regular holidays with his friends and worked six days a week, with no interest in retiring.

“He very much saw the customers as his pals, and he knew nearly everyone by name,” Olivia said.

“He was old-school, so he didn’t really have a filing system. He just knew every person, and not only did he know that person, but he knew their aunty and their brother and so on.

“He had generation after generation use the garage because he didn’t rip people off.”

Melissa added: “People kept trying to make him retire and he was just like ‘but what would I do?’

“His garage was in a yard, and he got on really well with everyone on the yard too. He was also incredible with kids.

“He remembered going to a garage with his dad when he was younger and told us ‘I remember just standing behind my dad and these people were swearing’ and he said, ‘I don’t want this to be like that’, so he was always very friendly and gave them biscuits or whatever.

“One of his favourite classic cars was a red one and he’d always be like ‘do you want a picture in the car?’

“We’ve had loads of people come up to us like ‘I remember your dad from when I was a wee boy, I’ve got a picture in the car’.”

Sadly, there are no plans to keep George’s business running.

“It was my dad’s pride and joy, but it was more of a vocational thing for him rather than being related to the actual garage,” Melissa said, before her sister added: “You can’t really have that garage without him, it doesn’t seem right”.

The twins, who share a flat together in Edinburgh, were sleeping after an early night when police turned up at their door around four hours after the accident.

They were woken by their buzzer going off at 4am and Olivia could hear her sister on the phone.

Melissa, who was speaking to their mum at the time, said: “I had woken up to the buzzer and grabbed my phone to put the torch on and I had seen ridiculous amounts of missed calls, crazy amounts.

"My mum called like 27 times or something ridiculous and lots of people my dad knew had been calling.”

“That’s when I knew it was about dad,” Olivia said.

“Because it was everyone who knew him. When I first got my phone I put a wee car emoji beside his name, and he was the one name that wasn’t on the list of phone calls.”

The girls were told their dad had been in an accident and to pack a bag as they were being taken to the hospital. The police were unable to provide any information about his injuries.

“I had a rucksack and I suddenly started shoving jumpers in because hospitals are really cold, and I didn’t want dad to get cold,” Melissa said.

She had even offered the police officers a cup of tea or coffee as she felt she couldn't comprehend what was happening. Meanwhile, Olivia had grabbed her shoes and phone charger and was ready to go.

It was when the police car’s blue lights were turned on and the officers spoke into their radio that the girls started to realise how serious things were.

“In the car, they radioed ‘we’ve got a next of kin for the ICU’ and I was like ‘ICU, what are they talking about ICU for’ and that’s when Melissa started to cry and I started to panic,” Olivia said.

After arriving at the hospital, they were met by other family members, taken into a room and told the extent of their dad’s injuries.

They got to see him and described him as “looking comfortable” and “tucked in”.

Melissa said: “Even though there were all the machines and stuff, he just looked like dad."

Olivia added: “We were lucky there were no visual injuries, he had his head in a block because of his spinal injury but the damage was all to the back of his head. He had a wee black eye but there was no blood or anything. He looked like he was sleeping.”

After being sent home, the twins received a call hours later informing them that there was nothing surgically which could be done as George's injuries were significant and catastrophic.

They were told to be prepared for hospital staff not to go to any extreme measures if his condition started to decline.

A room was set up for the girls and his close family members to stay overnight, to be able to spend time with him.

They sang to him, played his favourite music, and constantly spoke to him.

“If one of us was getting upset, we would go out and have a cry and the other would stay and speak to him and vice versa,” Olivia said.

“They said his hearing would be last to go so we wanted him to know everything would be okay.”

George sadly passed away in the early hours of March 7, surrounded by his loved ones including his beloved daughters, three of his siblings, and his fourth sibling en route from the USA. 

“He just went on his own. They said it may have come to a point where decisions might have had to be made about withdrawing care, but it didn’t come to that,” Olivia said.

“As he would say, his body was knackered.”

The girls revealed their gratitude for all the ICU staff at the hospital, who they described as being "really compassionate". 

Melissa described the next few days as not feeling real.

She said: “Dad had just been out seeing some friends which he usually did on a Friday, but he’d always be home by midnight. That was his thing because he worked on a Saturday.

“I remember I went to the garage to give people back their cars because he was supposed to be at work then. The people that worked with him, a couple from the yard, and others who used to work with him came over and helped me which was amazing.

“But it was a really surreal feeling because we’ve obviously grown up around that garage and it was very odd for him not to be there. I felt like he was going to walk through the door. And the fact his little tea mug was still out.”

During a lengthy wait for their dad’s funeral, Olivia set up a blood drive in his memory.

She said: “Dad received blood at the scene, so that gave us the time to get from Edinburgh to Glasgow and for those two days we got to spend with him. It doesn’t seem like much, but when it’s a time like that it means everything. So, we’ve been trying to give back.”

George had always been passionate about giving blood as well as being an organ donor, and as soon as Melissa and Olivia were able to give blood, they joined in too.

“He told us ‘it’s uncomfortable, but it’s just something you need to do’”, Melissa said.

Hundreds of people turned up to George’s funeral – which highlighted how loved he was. Following his death, dozens of people paid tribute to him on social media.

“He was just everything to us, we were three best friends which sounds ridiculous because there’s obviously quite an age gap and it’s our dad, but we just love him.”

“We just totally loved him,” Olivia added.

“Whenever we’d come home, we’d hang out with him and go for a carvery on a Sunday. We were coming home to go for a carvery with him the weekend of the accident.

“It’s the wee things like that I miss – ringing him up on my way to work and talking about what I’ve got on that week.

“It’s the shock of going back to life as it was before, but without him. I’ve been getting all these emails such as ‘do you want to send your Father’s Day card’, and that’s when it’s starting to hit.

“I don’t think I realised how long-term this was going to be. He’s never coming back. When it all happened, I was so shocked, so I was like ‘right if I can just get through these next few weeks’ and I don’t know what I thought was going to happen after that.

“It was sort of taking one day at a time but now it’s the longer-term and it’s hard having this massive gap.

“The fact at 22 our dad was here and now he isn’t, just feels unfair on not just us, but on him. He should have got to be a grandad.”

“It’s very weird having a little trio, and now he’s not part of it anymore, Melissa agreed.

“It’s odd to think that he’s not somewhere. We always knew where he was, he was always like ‘I’ve gone here for dinner with such and such’, or ‘I’ve just been to the pub’ and it’s just odd not to have that.

“I just miss him for the regular everyday stuff like getting takeout and watching crime shows together.

“I think we could talk forever about how wonderful we thought dad was and how wonderful he was, but he was just the kindest soul.”

George, who was meant to be on holiday with his friends when Melissa and Olivia spoke with the Glasgow Times, already had his bags packed.

The girls received a call from his pals, who told them their dad always took out a picture of them and placed it at his bedside when he went away.

“The photo is from when we were four or five,” Melissa said.

“In his house, there’s his little bag with his holiday stuff and this little picture, it’s just adorable.

"I don't know if anyone who knew dad will ever quite accept that he isn't just round the corner in the garage working too hard, or spending weekends watching football or in live music bars with his pals.

"He was the best of us and I don't think Glasgow can ever feel like home again without him."

To donate blood in memory of George, please click here.