A FORMER Wodonga councillor, who was a driving force behind the city’s agricultural show, has died after a four and a half year battle with dementia.
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Ray Pollard, 81, died on Friday after having lived at the Amity nursing home in Wodonga for the past two years and eight months following a period of home care by his wife of nearly 57 years, Nola.
Mrs Pollard yesterday paid tribute to her husband, who was president of the Wodonga Show Society for 13 years and a city councillor from 1982 to 1991.
“He took a great interest in public life and people,” Mrs Pollard said.
“He had a lot of time for elderly people and was always chasing after someone for somewhere they wanted to go or to pick them up.”
Mr Pollard was the second youngest of six children and came from the pioneering Pollard family, which had farmed Bonegilla Station since 1868.
He attended Bonegilla State School and he then began working on the farm, having got a driver’s licence at the age of 14, so he could take milk to the Bonegilla Army Camp during World War II, Mrs Pollard said.
The couple married at Wodonga’s Presbyterian Church on January 28, 1950, and lived at Rosebank, Bonegilla, until the early 1970s, when they sold the property to the Albury-Wodonga Development Corporation.
They spent five years at Warby Springs, near Wangaratta, before returning to live in Wodonga.
Mr Pollard then became involved in the show and won office with the city council.
His grandfather Joseph had been a councillor for 23 years and his father Charles for 40 years.
Charles Pollard was a trailblazer in forming the show society in 1947 and his son was also involved from the outset in contributing to the event’s enormous success.
Society life member Noel Forrest said yesterday Mr Pollard had been a mentor when he became part of the organisation.
“He was president for 13 years and he got the Friday night show going back in the late 1970s,” Mr Forrest said.
“He was a tremendous worker for the show society and other things in the community.”
Mr Forrest said Mr Pollard was a key factor in the success of a stud selling complex at the showground and had continued to oversee the fruit and vegetable section of the show in later years.
Mr Pollard was also secretary with the Bonegilla Hall, Bonegilla Fire Brigade, Mitta Junction State School and the Methodist Church Trust.
In addition to his wife Nola, Mr Pollard is survived by three sisters and daughter Heather McFarlane.
His funeral will be held at St Stephen’s Uniting Church in Wodonga from 10.30am tomorrow.
