“Bill was the most amazing man; a wonderful husband, mate, father, grandfather and friend,” his wife Anne said.
“I am honoured and so have loved to have been married to Bill for over 60 years … life was never dull.
“Bill had the most wonderful cheeky sense of humour, and I never knew if he was joking or not.
“We, as a family, are absolutely heartbroken.”
Bill was 88 and the eldest son of drover, Tom and Vera Gleeson. His brother John tragically died in 1977.
He attended Sacred Heart Primary School in Yarrawonga until leaving school at 14.
On that day, one of the nuns took him to the school gate to meet his mother and said, “well, Mrs Gleeson, there is nothing more we can do for him”.
He spent the next three months on the road with his dad droving 1,000 sheep.
On their return, his dad told him it was time to get a job, so Bill started work at Tuttle’s Plumbing.
Bill was an excellent target rifle shooter and represented Australia against Japan and Canada in the mid-1970s.
He was, among many things, a farmer, business owner, gold prospector, breeder of parrots, lorikeets and rosellas, life member of Yarrawonga Mulwala Historical Society, Probus and Rotary member and host of multiple exchange students.
As passionate travellers, Bill and Anne visited 26 countries in 20 years and caravanned all around Australia.
Anne was just 15 when she met Bill and 16 when she was allowed to out with him. Their first date was to see Psycho at the Shire Hall in Yarrawonga.
The couple were engaged when Anne was 18 and began more than 60 years of marriage two years later in Sacred Heart Church Yarrawonga, where Bill’s funeral service was held.
Bill and Anne had three children, Robert, Cyndi and Samantha and five grandchildren, Brittany, Georgia, Isabel, Oliver and Alexander who all called him Grandy.
In 2011, Bill was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration and told he would be totally blind within three years, but with regular treatment he maintained low vision and always made best of the situation.
In 2019, after open heart surgery, the couple moved back into Yarrawonga where they lived for the past six years.
Bill Gleeson died at home on March 6, surrounded by his family.
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