Roger passed at Castlemaine Hospital on 8th August 2024 aged 97.
Loved husband of Jemima and father of John, Linda, Susan, Jan and Deanne.
Family and friends are invited to attend Roger's funeral service
to be held in the Chapel of Mount Alexander Funerals, 12 Campbell Street, Castlemaine
on Monday 19th August at 1.30pm.
If you wish to join us at the service via livestream
please return to the home page of this website and click on the livestream button.
The service will be live approximately 5 -10 minutes prior to commencing.
19th August 2024 at 1:30 PM
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Dear Grandpa,
I look up to you, and wish that whilst you were here, I had told you so.
You are the epitome of resilience.
You had a zest for life and a will to go on despite anything that was thrown your way.
I can only aspire to be as determined as you have shown me is possible.
Your lifelong relationship with Grandma is incredibly rare and beautiful. A love that I can only wish for.
I appreciate your enthusiasm and support for my interests. I will cherish our time together and will miss your cheeky humour.
I’m so sorry that I couldn’t be there. I hope that you are resting peacefully, knowing that you have a family that loves you.
You will be forever in my heart,
Lots of love from Amy xx
Dear Roger,
Although I have only had the pleasure of knowing you for a short time, I have a great deal of respect for the things you have achieved in life, as well as growing to such an old age. It sets an example for everyone who follows in your footsteps.
The love you have given your wife and family over the years is admirable.
Losing a loved one is never easy, and I wish Roger’s family love, support and kindness on this day.
My thoughts and prayers are with you Roger, and I wish Jemima all the best in this challenging situation.
With Love,
Max Grote
The greatest story, and one I shall never forget, is how you followed Jimmy out to Australia on the promise of marriage if you did. Jimmy paid £10 to escape England and you paid £10 to join her. I reckon that’s probably the best £10 you ever spent.
I think your first return visit to the UK was around 1978. I didn’t know what to expect from this bunch of Aussie rellies but you’d done the right thing and had brought me a gift from down under. It was a boomerang. Now for a naive 13-year old boy, a boomerang from Australia might just as well have been a spaceship from Mars. We took it out to an unnecessarily large field (sorry, paddock) and you demonstrated the ancient art of throwing it around. Of course, and probably unlike a spaceship from Mars, the bloody thing never came back. Still, you kept trying.
Over the years we all enjoyed your visits to the UK – of which there were many – and of course we very much enjoyed visiting you in Melbourne. I shall never forget the kindness you and Jimmy and your family showed to me when I spent a year working in Australia.
One visit to the UK – I think 1990 – was spent afloat on a canal barge, touring some scenic and not-so-scenic parts of England with your two brothers. A few years later you came back and upgraded from a barge to a P&O cruise liner sailing around Scandinavia. The high life afloat was clearly to your taste because you came back in 2010 and sailed all the way around the Mediterranean.
Your enthusiasm for life was always strong. I remember a time when we were all on holiday together in Yorkshire, in northern England. Something caught your fancy on the other side of a fairly tall fence, clearly designed to keep onlookers out. It was probably a sculpture or some other piece of art. But you were never content with being an onlooker in life; you had to get over that fence. I suspect most times you did manage to get over whatever fences were in your way – but this sturdy Yorkshire fence wasn’t having it. You scaled the fence like a teenager, only to split your trousers loudly as you swung your leg over the top. We all found it hilarious, as did you.
It’s so sad that we will never know that enthusiasm for life again, but what a privilege and a joy it has been to share a small part of your life with you.
With love from all in the UK
My deepest sympathy to you Jimmy and all your family on the passing of Roger. I was talking to Len earlier this evening and he told me the sad news. I have some lovely memories of meeting you in New Zealand and then visiting you in at home in Melbourne many years ago now. I will be thinking of you all love from Cousin Marge in New Zealand.