Anglicare Southern Queensland Home and Community client, Gilbert Marshall, known as Clive, has celebrated his 100th birthday today with family and friends.
Mr Marshall was born in Brisbane on July 23rd, 1924 and was an only child – the son of a shipping manager father and seamstress mother.
He recalls that his mother made all of his clothes as a child and later, when he became a father, his own two daughters always had matching outfits thanks to his mother’s handiwork.
Due to his father’s occupation, Clive’s early childhood and primary school years were spent
in Cairns. They lived on the Esplanade and at Richmond St in Brisbane, where he attended Brisbane Boys Grammar School.
After his schooling was completed, he became a Cadet at Evans Deakin & Co where he worked on the design and construction of ships from 1942 to 1946, including WWII ship building contracts.
He says his greatest disappointment was that when he went to enlist for the war, he was not allowed to because it was considered more important to build the ships.
After the war years, Clive didn’t think there was much of a future in ship design and construction, so he completed further study to become an engineer. He then worked for Southeast Queensland Electricity Board and was mainly involved in the design and construction of their depots.
Clive married his wife, Beryl, in 1948 at Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church in Brisbane.
Beryl attended Brisbane Girls Grammar School and they met on a tram to and from school. They had three children, Jan in 1950 who became a doctor, Wendy in 1952 who became a teacher and Graham in 1956 who became an architect.
Nowadays, Clive owns a small acreage property at Samford and until recently, he has stayed physically active with the work involved in developing and maintaining the property and looking after two of his daughter’s horses.
Clive said the secret to living a good life is “hard work, don’t be selfish, respect others and try to help them whenever you can.”
On the occasion of his 100th birthday, Clive has received letters from King Charles and Queen Camilla; Governor General of Australia, Sam Mostyn, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton; Queensland Premier, Steven Miles
and the Governor of Queensland, Jeannette Young.
Happy 100th birthday Clive!
