George Luke Atherden, the son of Leonard Henry and Clara (née Luke) Atherden, was born in the Brisbane suburb of Nundah, on 4 January 1923. On 20 May 1944 he married Daphne May Florence Boyland (b. 3 October 1922), the youngest of the three children of Francis Orr Leichhardt and Emily Louise (née Ansell) Boyland. Daphne’s siblings were Alfred Francis (b. 2 May 1910) and Ellen Jessie (b. 24 May 1913).

The wedding took place in the City Congregational Church in the presence of the Reverend James Forsyth Dickinson (presiding minister and an AIF chaplain 1941-44) and Jean Mary and Roland Leonard Atherden (witnesses).

At that time George himself was a soldier. He joined the Australian Military Forces on 5 January 1942 and served in the AIF from the day of his wedding until, having spent 328 days on active service overseas, he was discharged from the army on 4 February 1946. In civilian life he worked as a motor mechanic.

We may note in passing that George’s father had also been a soldier who, having left Australia on the Demosthenes on 23 December 1916, had seen active service during World War One.

At the age of 74 George (‘Gadge’) Atherden was admitted to the Greenslopes Private Hospital where he died on 14 June 1997, leaving three daughters and two sons to mourn his passing. His remains were cremated at the Albany Creek Crematorium three days later in a service conducted by the Reverend
R Hannah of the Uniting Church.

Daphne Atherden was a resident of the Sinnamon Village Retirement Home, Sinnamon Park, when she passed away on 11 July 2005 aged 82 years. Her cremation service, conducted by the Reverend Ian Drummond of the Uniting Church,

took place at the Centenary Memorial Gardens Crematorium, Sumner, on 20 July 2005.

Given Daphne’s Boyland and Ansell connection, the family thought it appropriate to deposit the ashes of their parents at God’s Acre.