Former top jockey John Nestor always had a place set at his table for someone in need.
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The self-made man, who spent his early years in a Queensland orphanage and never knew his parents, didn't leave anyone behind.
"He'd never see anyone go without," eldest son Peter Nestor said.
"For a kid who came out of an orphanage there was no malice in him."
John Peter Nestor, 82, died at Dubbo's Lourdes Hospital on March 16 from a "cancer-related illness".
He is known for his prowess as a jockey from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, but his legacy extends beyond the racing world.
Mourners at his funeral in St Brigid's Catholic Church on Saturday will learn how at a young age John Nestor found a loving home and a future at Gulargambone where he fell in love with a pretty and steadfast girl called Judy.
The 16-year-old and her beau, 21, wed in 1958 and set about raising a family and making a living.
"He was a flashy little thing, a beautiful dancer, beautiful singer and just had a wonderful personality," Judy Nestor said this week.
The couple ran an array of businesses at "Gular" while Mrs Nestor trained racehorses and her husband won multiple Central West District Racing Association premierships.
Winning shored up the future of the three Nestor children, Peter, Wendy and Michael.
"It did its job and put the three kids through boarding school," Mrs Nestor said.
John Nestor had packed away his silks by the time the family moved to a property on the outskirts of Dubbo in 1976 to focus on a burgeoning horse transport business.
But the "larger-than-life" former jockey had helped build the foundations of modern racing in NSW.
John Nestor's youngest son Michael climbed into the saddle like his father.
Michael's son Kody followed suit before becoming a trainer like his grandmother and uncle, Peter.
Kody's brother Casey is an apprentice farrier.
Peter's daughter Amanda, a veterinarian nurse, worked in his stables.
In 2002 John and Judy Nestor bought a home in Dubbo where he embraced retirement.
"Johnny had no regrets and never looked back," Mrs Nestor said.
One of his final acts of goodwill was to ask his wife to buy gifts for the "angels" at Lourdes Hospital's palliative care unit.
The funeral, in the hands of Abbey Funeral Home, will begin at 11.30am at St Brigid's Catholic Church where donations to the unit will be accepted in lieu of floral tributes.
A private service will follow for the Nestor family at Dubbo City Crematorium.
John Nestor is survived by his wife, three children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.