FROM serving his country in World War II to serving his home town as a councillor, Bill Richardson’s life was all about helping in a variety of ways.

The Wodonga great-grandfather spent his 93 years assisting others while part of groups as diverse as the fire brigade and show society.

Mr Richardson died on Tuesday as a result of a fall he suffered at the weekend.

His two oldest children, Peter Richardson and Anne McCutcheon, yesterday paid tribute to their father’s community service.

“It was just part of his character and his upbringing ... his life was about service,” Mr Richardson said.

Mrs McCutcheon added: “Dad said ‘when you leave this world try and leave it better than you found it’, that was his philosophy.”

Mr Richardson was born at 29 Stanley Street, Wodonga on February 15, 1920, and christened Arthur Gordon.

He was the only son of livestock dealer Bob Richardson and his wife Linda, a daughter of the Gordon family of De Kerilleau.

Mr Richardson attended the Wodonga state school before his secondary education at Albury Grammar, where in 1936 he was school captain, football captain and cricket captain.

At 18 he took his first job with a livestock agent in Melbourne, learning all aspects of selling cattle and sheep at Newmarket, and joined the army as a gunner just before war broke out in 1939.

Mr Richardson was with the 2/12th Field Regiment in Palestine on his 21st birthday and in May 1941 he sailed with his regiment from Egypt to the defence of Tobruk.

A sergeant at Tobruk, he was in charge of a troop that bombarded the German soldiers besieging Tobruk.

In September 1941, his regiment was relieved but sent to the Syrian-Turkish border and then to Egypt, where he was promoted to lieutenant.

After his third Christmas in the Middle East, Mr Richardson came home to Australia, only to be posted to New Guinea, where he was shot in the arm by a Japanese soldier.

On return to Australia in 1943, Mr Richardson became engaged to Lieutenant Dawn Collings, a daughter of Albury town clerk, Roy Collings, but he was to serve in Borneo before the war ended and they were able to marry.

After the war Mr Richardson chose to work for his father in Wodonga at a pound a day, work that included office duties, riding horses, mustering and moving cattle and doing farm reports. He later became a partner in his father’s business and with Dawn raised a family of four children.

Mr Richardson became secretary of the RSL Wodonga sub-branch when he attended his first meeting in 1946 and later served as president.

He became secretary of the Wodonga West rural fire brigade and was a foundation member of the show society, serving several years as vice-president when his father was president.

He also served on grounds that created Vermont Court hostel for the aged and Westlands hostel.

In 1954 he was elected to Wodonga shire council, serving 15 years and as as shire president.

In 1956 he bought Murray Glen on Wodonga’s outskirts, while continuing his involvement in the business.

After the Albury-Wodonga Corporation bought much of the Richardsons’ land, including Westlands, Bill and Dawn built a home in Coyles Road, where they lived until Mrs Richardson died in 1998.

Mr Richardson sold the house in 2006 and was living in the Westmont aged care centre at Baranduda, which has a wing named in his honour.

He is survived by his children Peter, Anne, Margaret and Robert, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

A funeral will be held next week at Wodonga’s St John’s Anglican Church.