Connecting Derwent Valley

5 days ago

FEATURING OUR MEMBERS - SAM WILTON

Sam (David) Wilton has been a life member of the New Norfolk Lions Club since 2004. He is a devoted family man and, until recent years, has been a very active member of the Club. For 34 years Sam’s high energy and commitment to community service were drivers for his participation in Lions projects and activities.

David Wilton was born in 1926, the youngest of 14 children. He grew up on the family hop field at Molesworth and attended the local school. From a young age, for a reason long forgotten, he became known as Sam. His daughter, Margaret, recalls with a chuckle, “If someone called him David, he wouldn’t answer and you’d have to say, ‘Dad, someone’s talking to you’”.

Hard work was the order of the day in Sam’s youth. He trained and worked as a welder at Boyer, while living and working on the family hop field.

His motor bike was much loved transport to work and to attend local sporting and social events. For many years, he played football and cricket for Molesworth and New Norfolk. Home games were played on Lachlan Park Oval (the current Woolies site).

Dances at a hall in Circle Street opposite the Council chambers created opportunities to socialise. It was here that Sam met Lola Pearcey, whom he married in 1948.

Lola and Sam initially lived in Molesworth and started their family. They had two children, Robyn and Margaret, who was two years old when they established their home in New Norfolk. Sam tended the family veggie garden. He was also a keen hunter and fisherman so the family lived on kangaroo, rabbit and fish. Except for a short period, when they lived at Boyer, Sam and Lola remained in New Norfolk.

In February 1984, Sam was sponsored by Trevor Pearcey (Lola’s brother) to join the Lions Club of New Norfolk. By that time, he had retired from Boyer. The Club provided projects which Sam enthusiastically embraced. Lions family social events were a regular part of their lives and an introduction to the Club for the next generations of family members.

Sam worked with others in the Club on the chocolate wheel, projects at Tynwald Park, collecting sheep manure to sell, collecting and splitting wood for our winter raffle. He also built the steel table and chairs that are near the New Norfolk Visitor Information Centre. When the Club Rooms were obtained Sam pitched in with the cleaning and painting.

Lion Troy Bester, Sam’s grandson, remembers enjoying Lions activities with his grandad. “I was really young when I used to go to Baskerville and the Bushy Park Show with Pop. There used to be two gates at Baskerville. We worked at the gates on the hill. At the Bushy Park Show, we worked on the horse float gate.”

Lion Craig Waterhouse enjoyed kangaroo shooting with Sam, Wayne Hodge and Peter Birchall. “Although he is a reserved man, he would open up when we were out shooting. I have the utmost respect for Sam. He is strongly committed to Lions and he would put his hand up for anything that needed to be done. The Club built a lookout at Peppermint Hill in the early 1980’s and sometimes it would be vandalised. Sam decided to take it upon himself to keep the area tidy and the lawn watered and mowed. Although he enjoyed doing it, Sam was most put out when he found out that the project had been handed over to the Council on completion!”

Lion Wayne Hodge has been friends with Sam since they started working together in 1963. “Sam is a really good person. Our many fishing trips to Bronte Lagoon, Lake Sorell and Laughing Jack Lagoon, were day trips because he wouldn’t do overnight trips. Sam is a family man and returned home every night.”

Sam last attended a Lions activity in 2018. In that year, Lola and Sam celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary. They received messages of congratulations from Her Majesty, the Queen; His Excellency General, the honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC; the Prime Minister, the honourable Malcolm Turnbull MP; the Governor of Tasmania, Kate Warner; the Premier of Tasmania, Will Hodgman and Brian Mitchell Federal Member for Lyons.

Sadly, Lola passed away in 2019. Today, Sam is living comfortably in a nursing home at Newtown.

Thank you, Sam, for so many years of dedicated service to our Club and to our community.

Lions Australia. We serve (more than sausages) ... See MoreSee Less

Connecting Derwent Valley

2 weeks ago

Visitors to Tynwald Park in the next day or two will see our works crew removing one of the old playground sets, to prepare for a new one to be installed towards the end of the month. The earth needs a few weeks to settle and stabilise to allow the footings of the new one to be strong and reliable, which is why it's coming out a few weeks in advance. The rest of the playground equipment can still be used.

In case you missed it in last month's Mayor's Message, here's a sneak peek of what the new one will look like! ... See MoreSee Less