Vale David Glasson

His eulogy was written by his wife Dora and read by his cousin Ross Glasson.

David, also known as Ted, Dave, Davie and Da, was born in Eugowra on 13th April 1944. Fifth son of Joseph and Gladys Marjorie Glasson, better known as Joe and Madge. Trev was the eldest, then Don, Angus and Russ, and along came little sister Jen in 1951.

For a short time the family lived in North Street Eugowra.  At the time David started school his parents had a little shop across the road from Forbes Primary which also catered for school lunches. David didn’t take to being at school too well and he would cross the road to home at play time and not want to go back.

The property “Choubra” at Paytens Bridge, a mixed farm of cropping, sheep and cattle, was bought by his father where David was raised and he started at the one teacher school a few kilometers away where he was one of three in his class.  David sometimes rode a horse to school and he had so many stories of life at “Choubra” and school.

After finishing 6th Class at Paytens Bridge, David started boarding at Yanco Agricultural High School, following his four brothers. He made a lifelong friend there in Don Townsend. 

David played Open A’s at school in year 9, which started off his enjoyment of rugby league.

He loved the farm life and started driving the tractor at Choubra as soon as his leg was strong enough to push the clutch in.  At harvest time he was the tractor driver, his dad would operate the comb up and down and brother Angus was on the platform bagging the grain and sowing up the bags and stacking them on the back tray.

In May 1957 his mother Madge died, David was 13 and Jen was 6.  David went back to boarding school at Yanco not knowing that his father was also ill.  During 1957, Mrs Ted Herbert made and sent him cakes.

In January 1958 his father Joe died just after the school holidays. Arthur Glasson and Jim Norrie became David’s joint guardians until he was 21, and when he left school at the end of 1959 he worked for Jim and Joan Norrie for six and a half years.  He lived on their property “Cairnhill”. Jim taught David work ethic with sound advice and guidance and Joan fed him like a king, all with 5 children of her own. He was forever grateful.

Besides family, rugby league played a big part in David’s life. He started playing for the Eugowra All Black Reserves when he was 15.  From 1962 he played on and off in Eugowra First Grade in Group 11 teams that won five consecutive grand finals and in 1966 played representative for Group 11. He coached Eugowra Juniors in 1969 and kept on playing, and in 1974 in Group 11 Second Division he represented them also. At the end of 1976 he retired from playing and in 1980 he coached the Reserve Grade who were Minor Premiers.

His NRL team was the Dragons, but he would settle down with his block of chocolate to watch all the NRL games on TV. In 1994 David, Dora and Coral travelled to England on a Kangaroo Tour with Don Tildsley and friends.

David had a go at a few sports including tennis, water skiing, volleyball, indoor cricket, fishing, golf and then lawn bowls and served on the committees of Football, Golf and Bowls. David was also a member of the Masonic Lodge.

In 1961 after a Sunday night church service with a group of young people who gathered at Angelo’s Café, David walked Dora home to Barrack Street, he never left so to speak!

David’s brother Don played a big part in his life, not only on the football field as team mates, but every weekend until he was married he would go to Yvonne and Don’s from Paytens Bridge to Camp Street where they would welcome him and Yvonne would do his washing, he would never forgot Yvonne’s kindness.

In 1965 David bought his basic farm equipment and on 26th February 1966 he and Dora were married in this church. Another mentor was Ted Pengilly who let them have a rent free house on “Bonnie Doon” in the first two years of marriage.

In between share farming he worked in shearing sheds and in late 1967 David and Dora moved to John and Mary Adams’s small irrigation property “Fernlee” on the Cowra/Forbes Road. Whilst living there Kristen was born in August 1968, and after buying a house in Eugowra in 1970, Matthew was born in November 1971.

David was very much involved in church life at St Matthews, serving on Parish Council and becoming a Licensed Lay Minister.

The first experience of an overseas trip was in 1974 when the family went to New Guinea to caretake Trev and Isabel’s coffee plantation for six weeks – that was a real adventure in the highlands.

Later years there were trips to New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Singapore, United Kingdom, Fiji, New Caledonea and Vietnam.

1984 was a big year when a new home was built and David and Dora bought into J.C Adams & Co in Eugowra, a farm supply and seed cleaning business with Colin and Wendy Greenhalgh. This kept David busy until 2005 when he retired.

In 1994 Kristen married Will Faul, and David and Dora welcomed Willie into their family.  There has never been a dull moment since!

Retirement for David meant bowls and working as a volunteer greenkeeper. He bought a caravan with Dora and they went on memorable trips with friends. 

During crop sowing and harvest he worked for Kevin and Jayne Norrie and he looked forward to these stints on the green machines until he turned 70 and he thought “these headers are getting bigger to get up into by the year”.

In 2012 he went to Dalby in Queensland with Angus and bought a John Deere 60 tractor.  It was in its “working clothes” and when it was brought back to Eugowra Dora was shocked at the look of it and the price he paid for it - nothing was said.

The tractor sat in the shed for about 2 years and then David started the transformation, ordering parts from America. When he had finished he would start it up and run it around the hill. 

David enjoyed his trips away with the “boys”, going to Birdsville and the Top End, fishing and the football reunions with his very good mates. The Glasson get together on Boxing Day was something he looked forward to each year.

After waiting 12 years, in May 2006 his grandson Liam was born, a great joy for the family. He taught Liam to handle a ride-on mower and would send him careening down the hill on his billy-cart in Marara Street.

The sudden loss of son Matthew in 2014 was a great blow and the Glasson family came together to share another loss to their clan.

It was a huge decision to leave Eugowra in 2017, to downsize and move to Orange, the green tractor came as well!

At the new home in Orange, David set about making handrails, building another garden shed (mostly by Will and Clive) and all manner of improvements.

David and Dora enjoyed the movies and their lunch date on Thursdays and looking after Liam.

After the paper was picked up each morning David would stop at the sports oval with Dudley the grand dog and walk a couple of laps around it, and then went home to attack the sudoku, crossword and word play in the paper.

David was a fighter. and he fought all the way until he left us.

Kristen has written … 

I remember dad being a hard worker and in school holidays mum and us kids would visit dad during harvest to deliver lunch. But dad also had a great sense of fun, he loved to spend time in the water with us, be it at the pool or beach on family holidays. 

Dad also liked music and would love to sing along to Roger Miller or Creedance and later Sara Storer.  

In our youth, Sundays in the cooler months always consisted of two things, church and footy. Dad would don his wool cap and take his position on the “the hill” at home games or we would travel near and far to watch Eugowra play.

He could be relied on for sound advice and helped us buy cars, paint the house and would have a go at repairing anything.  

Dad always loved our dogs.  He enjoyed watching Liam play soccer on Saturdays no matter how cold, and I was looking forward to Liam spending more time with his Da, hearing all the stories of his life and helping him become a young man.

We thank you for being here today to celebrate David’s life.