GREG Goldsmith will be remembered as a man who was passionate about his sport and his family.
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He died in his sleep at the age of 74 on October 14 after a short battle with bowel cancer. Greg is survived by his wife Wendy, his three children John, Jodie and Tony, and seven grandchildren.
Greg was born on August 3, 1944 at Glendaruel, near Clunes, and attended teacher’s college in Ballarat.
Early in his teaching career he moved to Wycheproof to teach, and later moved to Portland and then Donald.
Greg spent 35 years of his life teaching before retiring at the age of 55.
He married Wendy Allan, of Narraport, in 1966 and the couple had three children. The family bought a pub in Inglewood which they owned for more than three years. In the early 2000s, Greg and Wendy settled in Stawell.
John Goldsmith said his father was a loving family man and friend.
“He was a great lover of sport and everything about it; he also loved educating people through his teaching and coaching,” he said.
“Football was his favourite sport and he coached a lot of footy sides. In the North Central Football League, he was secretary, treasurer, vice president and president. When he came to Stawell he was on the board of the Horsham District Football Netball League.
“He just loved being around people and getting involved. The great thing about dad was that you always knew where you stood with him.”
Grampians Cricket Association president David Turner was a close friend to Greg for more than 30 years.
“We met through cricket when he was an umpire for the Donald District Cricket Association; we’ve got a lot of cricket history behind us,” he said.
“He was very well respected and umpired a lot of A Grade finals. He was just a genuine bloke who called it as he saw it; you didn’t expect any favouritism from him.
“Basically everywhere he lived he was tied up with both football and cricket.”
Mr Turner said Greg was a well-known community member in Stawell.
“Over the last few years, I’ve met him most Friday nights at the National Hotel in Stawell; on Saturday nights he’d go after cricket. There’s even a picture of him in his umpire uniform on the wall,” he said.
“We had a lot of good chats in the pub, mainly to do with cricket. He took a genuine interest in how I was going personally in both life and in sport.
“We didn’t always agree, but we always walked away respecting each other’s opinion which showed the real gentleman side of him.”
Greg’s funeral will be held at Wycheproof Uniting Church on October 24.
