A WANGARATTA man who gave many years to junior sport and athletics in the rural city, was laid to rest on Tuesday. QUIET ACHIEVER: Jim Lloyd passed away last week, aged 81.
Jim Lloyd, who passed away last week aged 81, played junior football with Imperials, and went on to coach Junior Magpies in the Wangaratta Junior Football League for 15 seasons from the age of just 19.
Jim successfully coached the Magpies to back to back premierships in the late 1950s, and to four consecutive flags in the 1960s.
Many of the players who moved through the junior ranks under his tutelage remember Jim’s coaching directions and motivational speeches.
A good middle distance runner, Jim was honoured to be selected to carry the Olympic torch in 1956 after finishing third in a qualifying race and being able to run a subfive minute mile.
After this, along with Bill Eaton, Frank Seymour and Jim Nolan, Jim helped form the Wangaratta Harriers Athletic Club.
He spent much of the next 50 years associated with the club, and served as president for many years.
Through a life dedicated to family, Jim also gave time to his community through children David and Michelle’s kindergarten and school communities, Cubs and Brownies, and sporting involvement.
“Those who knew Dad well know that he was a doer,” Michelle said.
“If you needed something done, Dad was your man.”
Michelle said her father worked tirelessly to get the Wangaratta 3rd Scout Hall established and built off Park Lane, and was involved in renovations and an extension to the Wangaratta Guide Hall in Ryan Avenue being completed.
He also worked to have a dedicated athletic facility developed in Wangaratta, with the Bill Eaton Athletic Complex established at Appin Park in 2008.
In later years, Jim and his wife of 53 years, Eileen, volunteered at the Wangaratta Base Hospital’s Dicker Wing, and later at Illoura Nursing Home, for a combined 14 years.
“While Mum did the cooking, it was Dad who chatted and entertained the residents, encouraging them to try whatever Mum and the other ladies had made,” Michelle said.
After a battle with Parkinson’s Disease, Jim passed away on October 2, as Michelle said, “quietly and gently, just like him”.
“Although quiet, he was a determined person who always gave 100 per cent and he always finished what he started,” Michelle said.