Glenn Arkell’s Family Tree

Narrative

Dad worked in the laboratory at Shell Oil Refinery in Geelong in his early years and then became a Fireman on the Railways. I remember travelling up the front of the locos between Geelong and Warnambool and in particular on the B or S class where there was a small door right at the front. Of course I couldn't open it while the train was travelling along.

Also dad worked the local goods train on occasion between Camperdown and Timboon. These trips tended to be very slow travelling at around walking pace. So we were able to get off and run out to the paddock and pick mushrooms when in season and dad often picked off a rabbit or 2 for dinner.

I remember dad working extra hours shovelling coal from an old GY goods wagon into the station bin (big bin) at Camperdown. Dad was always very smart and presentable in his well starched overalls and cap (thanks to mum) when he worked in Geelong.

Dad later worked for Ford Motor Company in Geelong until his back gave up on him.

He left the Geelong region to move up to Queensland where he stayed at Nana's place for some time until they had a falling out. Then Nana moved back to Geelong (unbeknownst to me) where she passed away. Details unknown.

Dad then moved up to Buderim into a unit and stayed there until his death in 2010. He was involved in the Sunshine Coast Archery Club for a while and help out with general garden type maintenance and support of the young kids keen on archery.

Events

Event	Date	Place	Description	Sources
Birth	1931-06-20	Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia	Birth of Francis Henry Matthews

Death	2010-05-24	Coloundra, Australia, Queensland	Dove Paliative Care Unit	1a
	Event Note I was present at the Dove Paliative Care Unit where dad was transferred to on Friday 21st May from the Nambour Hospital. Dad was being fed through a nasogastric tube to build up his strength as he had obviously been neglecting his nuitrition. The feeding through the tube put significant weight back on him but unfortunately caused significant fluid retension. Fluid was seeping through his pores, particularly in his arms where he had nappy type pads taped around his arms to soak up the moisture. Quite an amount of fluid was drawn from his lungs also. In excess of 1 litre was drawn on 3 occasions (total of approx 3.7 litres) over the week that I was up there with him. Whilst he had the fluid problems, he was rather tired and depressed about his condition although was adamant that he had some living to do. When Dr Morgan rasied the question of "What dad wanted him to do in the event of any 'issues' with his health", dads response was along the lines of "Get the paddles out, I've got a lot of living still to do". He either didn't really realise his condition or was deliberately burying his head in the sand. He certainly didn't understand what Palliative Care was really about. Apparently in the ambulance when being transferred, he was discussing with the ambos about the possibility of purchasing a unit close and handy to the Dove Centre. When I was completing the forms at the Funeral home in Caloundra, I unfortunately made a couple of mistakes. When asked was dad married my response was yes, but of course mum and he had been divorced for nearly 30 years. Also I got Shane's birth year wrong, stated 55 instead of 1956. I guess I wasn't quite thinking clearly. Event Reference Note Dad was admitted to the Paliative Care unit on Friday 21st May 2010 from the Nambour Hospital. Whilst at the Nambour Hospital he was in the Cardiac unit under Dr David Morgan and Dr Kerin Williams.			1a

Relation to the centre person (Arkell, Glenn Francis Wilson) : father

Parents

Relation to main person	Name	Birth date	Death date
Father	Arkell, Francis Herbert	1894-04-08	1981-08-05
Mother	Matthews, Ruby Leura	1907-08-08	1996
	Arkell, Francis Henry Matthews	1931-06-20	2010-05-24
Brother	Arkell, Anthony Matthews	1934-12-12	2020-03-04

Families

Family of Arkell, Francis Henry Matthews and Thompson, Glenda Lois

Married

Wife

Thompson, Glenda Lois ( * 1935-08-01 + ... )

Event	Date	Place	Description
Marriage	1955-07-30	Geelong, Victoria, Australia	Marriage of Arkell, Francis Henry Mathew and Thompson, Glenda Lois

Divorce	1972	Geelong, Victoria, Australia	Divorce of Arkell, Francis Henry Mathew and Thompson, Glenda Lois