The memorial service at a crowded St Paul's Presbyterian Church on Wednesday for Lismore's Jim Roder - who passed away on May 31 - brought on more laughter than tears, though there were some of those too. That was a testament to Jim's reputation as a prankster and larrakin.

Jim the bulldozer driver from Lismore, as he would often introduce himself, was also a champion water skier, a licensed pilot and a dedicated volunteer firefighter for 40 years. Above all he was a loving husband to wife Fay, father and grandfather.

The following is a wonderful eulogy delivered by his son, Tony, at Wednesday's service that tells the story of a great member of our community.

Chapter One: Early life and Work

Jim Roder was born in the family home in Woodburn, the second of three brothers and a second generation Italian from the New Italy settlement south of Woodburn.

His father, Joe, grew bananas on land close to New Italy. Jim attended Woodburn Central School, or Woodburn University as he called it, but wasn’t really interested in school and left at age 15 to work with his dad on the banana farm for five or six years.

One day a council bulldozer came out to their farm to build a dam and the operator gave Jim a go at driving it (I don’t think that would be allowed nowadays) and after one go he decided that’s what he wanted to do. He sold his car and used all his savings to put a deposit down on his own second hand dozer.

During the '60s he worked long and hard building floodway channels in the lower Richmond and sand mining along Airforce Beach, eventually upgrading to a dozer with hydraulics rather than cables.

Jim also worked nights running the projectors at the Evans Head picture theatre with mum ushering movie goers to their seats in the theatre. One of my earliest memories is standing in my cot next to dad in the projection room watching him change the giant movie reels on the giant projectors and watching the movies through a little peep hole. I had the best seat in the house and he was my hero from then on.

In the early '70s, Jim was hired to work on developing the Ocean Shores township, building the roads and the golf course (still my favourite course anywhere). As our family had settled in Lismore, Jim chose to commute to Ocean Shores, leaving home well before daylight and getting home after dark - such was his strong work ethic. I remember a couple of times helping dad and his mechanic mate, Smithy, working through the night to fix the dozer after a breakdown (I learnt some colourful new words on those nights) then Jim would be back to work for the day without any sleep.

After almost a decade, Ocean Shores was complete and Jim began working for the RTA on improving the Pacific Highway between Grafton and Woolgoolga. On his first day on the job, the RTA engineer arrived, saw the size of Jim’s bulldozer and promptly told Jim: "Sorry we will need a machine twice that size for this job!"

So Jim said: "OK, I’ll do a day's work for free and if you’re not satisfied then I’ll leave." The engineer returned the next day and said: "OK you’re hired, now take your machine and hide in the bush for three days while we catch up with what you’ve done!"

In the mid '80s, Jim started Roder/Price Constructions, building subdivsions around the Lismore region, buying more machinery which was risky, but becoming a successful business. He taught himself some basic surveying skills on the job and eventually built up his own business, employing up to eight workers at a time. This meant long days at work and then nights at home doing quotes and pays with mum, often working until midnight.

He finally sold his business in and settled into retirement after over 40 years of hard work.

Chapter Two: Family

Dad was always a loving and dedicated family man, father and grandfather.

In the early '70s, he bought his prized possession, a ski boat which he named Lil Dib, which was his nickname for his beloved daughter Kim.

We spent many happy weekends as kids learning from an expert on how to water ski on the Richmond at Woodburn, staying at Nana and Pops house on the river.

There was a memorable family trip to the Murray River, with aunties, uncles and grandparents on a house boat together, stopping at most of the wineries along the river. There was a lot of wine tasting on that trip. There was also a kerfuffle among the aunties one day when dad threw me overboard as a 10-year- old - but he knew I was a good swimmer.

When Jim began work at Ocean Shores, the extended family would spend three weeks every Christmas at Ma Rings beachhouse in New Brighton. These annual holidays went on for almost 20 years. A big tent would go up in the backyard for me and my mates and the house would be full of relatives. Everyone was welcome and we always had the best time surfing, fishing and playing backyard cricket. One constant was all the uncles had to do a "garbage run" every couple of days but everyone knew pretty quickly that they didn't get past the golf club.

Of course, Jim’s other pride and joy was his little slice of heaven, his little paddock on the river, the Ponderosa. He was a besotted grandfather and he turned it into a children's paradise for his grandkids and his friends kids to enjoy. A treehouse wasn’t enough - it had to have a flying fox as well - so he built them. A little beach to ski from wasn’t enough - it had to have a waterslide into the river - so he built it.

He grew bananas, oranges and vegetables and loved to escape to the paddock to relax in his later years. Many hours of fun has been had at the Ponder by young and old alike.

In his late 40s, dad did what I believe was his greatest achievement. He was always strong and handy with manual work but having left Woodburn University at 15, he had only ever studied basic maths many years before. He loved aeroplanes and the idea of flying so he set his mind to gaining his pilot's licence.

He spent many hours at night studying the maths and physics involved in flying a plane and he eventually did it. He became a pilot. So there were new adventures for his grandkids to be had-going flying with Pop. What an amazing man.

Chapter Three: Community

Most of you here today would know of at least some of the work dad has done within the community over the years.

He has done the earthworks for a number of sports fields around Lismore, including the Thistles soccer fields many years ago, Barrow Lane field at the Italo Club and the South Lismore sports fields. Lismore City Council recognised this by naming the fields behind Trinity College as Jim Roder Oval. Dad would often say to mum – “let’s go for a drive down to the oval and make sure they haven’t taken my name down”. It was a great source of pride to him.

He used his boat in a number of floods, especially the big '74 flood, to help evacuate elderly residents from their homes.

Dad was also pretty chuffed when he was included as a runner in the Sydney Olympics torch relay. He was a bit disappointed he didn’t get a Lismore run but he ran proudly down the main street of Byron Bay holding the torch high.

Up until a couple of years ago, dad’s love of the river drew him back to take up rowing. He enjoyed his Saturday mornings cruising peacefully down the river - except for the day someone forgot to look where they were going and ran into the Ballina Street bridge, dislocating a shoulder.

Even though he was certainly no expert rower, dad still wanted to help out whenever he could, so he volunteered to coach high school students each week for a couple of years during their sport sessions, which he also enjoyed immensely.

Of course, a huge part of our lives was dad's 40 years of service as a volunteer fireman. He absolutely treasured his time in the fire brigade and the deep and lasting friendships he and mum made with his firey mates and their partners.

Oh so many nights we were woken at all hours of the night when those fire bells went off but no matter how long dad had been at work, he would always jump out of bed to go to a fire call.

In the early days, first in Evans Head and then Lismore, he would jump up quickly and screech off down the road to try and be first to the fire, but as the years went by, he would get up a bit slower saying: "It’s probably another false alarm."

There are far too many stories to tell here of the pranks dad pulled on his mates at the station and on their trips away every two years to all parts of the state for the fire demos. They would train hard a couple of nights a week and work out tactics (usually at the Civic Hotel). Dad would always brag about the teamwork and timing needed to get the hydrant in and the hoses out as fast as possible without a washout and one year the team even won the gold medal.

Needless to say, he loved every minute of those 40 years fighting fires and spending time with his best mates.

Chapter Four: Love

As Aretha Franklin sang: Behind every great man, there has to be a great woman. Such is the case with mum and dad. It is a story of lasting love and respect for over 60 years, something that is rare in modern times.

Mum and dad met at a dance in Woodburn, and started courting not long before dad become Australian water ski champion at slalom and jumps. He travelled to the world titles in Florida in 1957. This was a time when water skiing was glamorous and at its peak of popularity in America. Dad would finish 8th in the world at those titles which was pretty awesome for a boy from Woodburn. And from photos I’ve seen he was surrounded by some fairly attractive women.

When the skiing was done, he took a trip up to check out New York with the other Aussie skiers. But dad told me more than once that he didn’t really enjoy that trip - despite all the glamour of America, he just wanted to come home to his new girl, mum.

So he returned home and quickly became engaged. Mum and dad were married in March 1959 and I was born nine months later - they didn’t waste any time! Although they did wait another four years before my sister Kim was born.

In the 60 years since, they have been inseparable. They worked together, starting at the Evans Head pictures. Mum did the paperwork for dad's business for many years while also working for some time at Trevan's and over 25 years at Parry’s Office Supplies. Dad always asked mum’s advice and guidance in any decisions.

They were always together at any social event - often the last ones left standing on the dance floor at the end of the night.

Their love for each other only grew stronger as the years went by. Dad needed mum by his side right to the very end.

James Joseph Roder, you have had a life well lived. You have touched many people's lives. Ýou have been a beautiful husband, father and grandfather.

Rest in peace dad.