James Thompson has been an integral part of the Swan Hill community since 1974.
Born in 1937 at Numurkah, Jim (as he’s known to friends and family) was a fifth-generation farmer whose ancestors were pioneer settlers in the Shepparton District.
Jim’s parents farmed at Tallygaroopna where he grew up with his two sisters and three brothers.
After the war, Jim helped his father by working on the family farm. It was during this time where he would learn skills that would help him later in life. Being the eldest son, a lot of responsibility was placed on Jim who ran and managed the farming enterprise when his family were away.
By the age of 20, Jim met the love of his life, Esma Smith, at a dance hall in Shepparton.
The couple married a year later and had four children during the next six years – Ian, Pauline, Alan and Kerry.
After they had leased farms for several years, Jim and Esma had saved enough money to buy their own dairy farm in 1964.
In 1966, Jim first became involved with Freemasons Victoria at Moira.
Jim would join the Ultima Masonic Lodge and later the Swan Hill and Tresco Lodges.
But due to the political events of the 1970s, Jim had changed his mind about farming and they sold the farm in 1973.
“It was the best move we ever made,” Jim said.
“We looked around and asked ourselves what were we going to do and decided a change of lifestyle was needed.”
Jim and Esma undertook a drastic lifestyle change when they moved to Swan Hill and bought the Paruna Motel.
“We went from milking cows seven days a week to serving customers seven days a week,” Jim said.
Throughout his life Jim was heavily involved in the Freemason Victoria, and was given the honour of becoming the First Foundation Master of the Swan Hill Masonic Lodge in 1997.
In 2014, he was awarded the title of Past Deputy Grand Master, the highest honour possible to receive in the organisation.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be part of the state ceremonial team, who go around the state to perform at installation ceremonies,” he said.
He celebrated 50 years of membership of Freemasons Victoria this year and received a special certificate at the annual Christmas party earlier this month.
“I felt very proud to have 50 years of service and to have been given the title of Past Deputy Grandmaster in December last year.”
To read more about this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (December 28).
