One of Queanbeyan's best-known and well-respected citizens, Jim Woods, a former co-owner of The Queanbeyan Age, has died at the age of 103.
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Mr Woods passed away on Tuesday, leaving a long legacy with the city he championed as well as his other beloved communities, Temora and Crookwell.
He had been a printer, journalist, editor and publisher over a career spanning 66 years. He was the Queanbeyan Citizen of the Year in 1993 and the force behind such community initiatives as the Queanbeyan Sporting Gallery and the town's Printing Museum.
He participated in the life of the small towns in which he lived, from joining the town band to becoming a member of the local fire brigade.
Tim Overall, administrator of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, said Mr Woods was "an icon of Queanbeyan".
"An outstanding effort with The Queanbeyan Age and a significant figure in the sporting fraternity of Queanbeyan," Mr Overall said.
"And an extraordinary man in more ways than one. He was dedicated to community service. He held the record for some 33 years of membership to the Rotary Club of Queanbeyan West and never missed a meeting.
"I had the pleasure of visiting Jimmy on his 103rd birthday on the 11th of the 11th and he was as sharp as ever."
Born in Temora on November 11, 1913, the eldest of seven, Mr Woods grew up in modest circumstances, going to school in bare feet, like many children of the time.
His first job was as a paper boy, delivering The Temora Independent on foot because he didn't own a bicycle.
The Independent's owner, John Arthur Bradley, was apparently impressed by young Jim's initiative and offered him a job, initially as a "jack-of-all-trades" but then as an apprentice compositor.
It was the beginning of a lifelong association with the Bradley family, firstly as an employee for 22 years, then for the next 44 years as a partner in 11 newspapers and printing businesses throughout southern NSW.
After a four-year courtship with Rene Wallace, the couple was married at St Paul's Church of England in Temora, on April 14, 1938.
They had two sons, Bob and Ken. Mr Woods handed over managing directorship of The Age to Bob in 1991 but remained chairman of the Queanbeyan Publishing Company.
The family spent nine years in Crookwell and then moved to Queanbeyan in 1958 where Mr Woods took over the management and part-ownership of The Age, in partnership with the Bradleys, the Shakespeare brothers (who then owned The Canberra Times) and later John Fairfax.
When The Age was sold to Rural Press in December, 1994, the Woods family had three generations involved across all areas of the printing industry.
Mr Wood's funeral will be held at 1.30pm on Tuesday, January 10, at the Anglican Parish Church of Christ Church, Rutledge Street, Queanbeyan.
