OBITUARY
James Henry Grassby
Born: 3 February 1915
Died: 27 March 2011
JIM Grassby was born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, to parents George and Frances Grassby.
The family moved to Drouin in Victoria where they ran a dairy farm for the next 15 years, and then made the move to Warburton, where they purchased a property known as “Riverturn” when Jim was 16-years-old.
Jim loved Warburton and got involved in the local football and cricket clubs as well as the tennis club.
He worked in the local timber mills and survived the 1939 bushfires while working out in remote areas. Jim enlisted in World War II in 1940 and travelled to England, Scotland and New Guinea as a sapper in the Australian Army.
When he returned to Warburton, he worked on the building of the Upper Yarra Dam. It was soon after this that Jim met a girl from Marysville, Valerie Harrow (nee Barton), who was widowed with two young children,Diane and Trevor. Jim and Valerie were married in 1957 and settled in Warburton.
Roslyn was born in 1959 and Barton in 1966, which gave Jim great happiness. He started work for the Board of Works, going on to retirement as assistant caretaker of the Cement Creek Aquaduct for 20 years.
During those later years, Jim took up bowling and was a master of the Warburton Bowls club for more than 20 years, and also looked after the bowling club garden beds for a number of years.
His love of sport saw him play for two premierships for Warburton Football Club, one when he was 18 and one when he was 33.
He also loved walking and in later years was fit enough to walk for miles around the town and up into the hills until his late 80s.
Jim was also a long time member of the Warburton RSL and was greatly missed at the Anzac March this year. He was a true gentleman who was gentle and kind, who loved his family, garden, sports and a beer at the Alpine Hotel with his mates in earlier years. He also loved Essendon Footy Club, and in later years going out for coffee at the cafes. When Val passed away in 1996, Jim was very lonely but stayed on in the family home until he was 95 with increasing need for care for his advancing Alzheimer’s disease.
He moved into Bupa Nursing Home six months ago and passed away on 27 March aged 96. He is survived by his younger sister Marjorie andyounger brother Arthur, his children, Diane, Roslyn and Barton, 11grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
