John Sanderson turns 95

Norman Frederick John Sanderson was born in Broadford in 1928, the eldest of three children.

He went to Tallarook Primary School, then St Mary’s in Seymour.

In 1952 he met Margaret Clifton at Broadford. They married in August 1953 and were blessed with nine children: John, Maree, Bernadette, John, June, Jillian, David and twins Damian and Veronica. Sadly their first child John only lived 10 hours and Veronica died at birth.

The family has grown considerably with the addition of 22 grandchildren and 43 great-grandchildren.

John’s family lived at “Springvale” at Tallarook until 1963, when he moved to Nagambie.

He worked for Bruce Forbes in his mechanical garage until 1988.

Then he started his own agricultural business in town and for many years won the top salesperson award in Australia along with a world award for his salesmanship.

He retired about 10 years ago and sold his business to his son Damian.

John and Margaret travelled overseas and enjoyed going around Australia.

Sadly, Margaret died in December 2008. John has wonderful memories of his wife of more than 50 years.

Now, he lives with partner Margaret Rea, who cares for him well at Kelvingrove Retirement Village.

John has a pretty simple philosophy when it comes to reaching a grand age.

“Plenty of work, no smoking and I only had a can or two occasionally. Do things in moderation,” he said.

John has known sadness and joy in his life and has been a popular, well respected man around town.

He gets on well with everyone and he was a successful businessman because of those principles.

Congratulations to John on his 95th birthday. Best wishes from your family, friends and community.