Top grandad still at the reins

– Kath Gannaway
FRANK Cole says he’s never won a medal for anything but the one he received on his 90th birthday last week is among his most prized possessions.
Being named World’s Greatest Grandad by one of his 15 grandchildren is the best recognition of all, he said.
Mr Cole, who has lived in the Upper Yarra area all his life, celebrated his 90th birthday surrounded by family and friends at Warburton last week.
His wife, Dorrie, and all six of their children – sons, Ernie, David and Colin and daughters, Nancy, Stella and Shirley – and their partners, were among the 86 guests.
Mr Cole’s parents were pioneers of the district and his great adventure started, he said, in a two-room house in Three Bridges on 11 July, 1916.
Growing up in the bush meant never having to wear shoes and playing cricket with a pick handle as a bat.
All this and being part of the close-knit Upper Yarra community all his life have provided the hundreds of stories which his family and friends never tire of hearing like the one about Jacky Dillworth’s horse and cart.
Like all good family folklore, it still makes them laugh like little kids.
It was at a dance at the Gilderoy Hall and, as Mr Cole tells the story, it seems, Jacky Dillworth’s horse and cart found themselves on either side of a picket fence when some miscreants put the shafts of the cart through the fence and re-hitched the horse… much to Jacky’s astonishment and everyone else’s entertainment.
The mischief of that moment, and many others like it, is alive and well in Frank Cole’s sparkling eyes.
Over the years Mr Cole was well known as the drummer, with brothers Alf and Les on banjos and Harold on the piano accordion in the Cole Brothers Band.
The band played at dances all around the Yarra Valley and neighbouring districts and Mr Cole later played for 27 years at the Alpine Hotel in Warburton with various bands.
Work included making packing cases as a teenager to working on the construction of the Upper Yarra Dam with people from all over the world.
As a member of the Mt Evelyn Lions Club, Mr Cole did his share of community work over 20 years and, along with Dorrie, helped train six debutante sets.
Mr Cole said among his greatest joys are that all his family is here to help him celebrate his birthday and the great rapport he has with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Obviously, a gold medal performance from their point of view as well.