Obituary: Charles Thomas Grieve
Born:4 January 1952
Died:13 May 2010
News has been provided to the FAOBA about the sad news of another of our OBs who passed away prematurely in 2010, aged 58. Charles attended the Abbey School from 1963 to 1969 and he had an older brother Douglas who also was at the Abbey. He was an enthusiastic Army cadet at school and became under officer. He was a keen sportsman playing rugby in the 1st XV for three years (quite an achievement) in the second row and also representing the school at hockey in the 1st XI as a left back. On emigrating to Australia, he continued playing rugby and played state rugby for Victoria. Rugby was in his blood on and off the pitch. He was privileged to play against a touring French side in 1981 and the Scottish side in 1982. He emigrated to Australia in 1971 with Hugh Gillies (Abbey 1962-69) and joined the Police Force in 1973. He is survived by his wife, Maree and their son and daughter. His classmates included James Edgar and Vic Chlebowski.
Whilst in Australia, Charles met up with a few OBs who had also emigrated including David Allison (Carlekemp 1960-66, Abbey 66-70), Hugh Fairful-Smith (Carlekemp 1960-65, Abbey 65-69), a doctor living in Ballina (Northern NSW) and Arthur Cunningham (Carlekemp 1960-65, Abbey 65-69) a chef and Supermarket Manager in WA.
Charles ‘Hank’ Grieve (‘Hank’ because of his Central American heritage) passed away from cancer on the 13th of May 2010. At the time, he had been working as Senior Sergeant at the Police Academy in Wheelers Hill as the head of the scenario village and pistol ranges. Prior to that, he had worked in the Force Response Unit an organisation to support local police conduct large or sensitive operations and also riot control. He was a qualified diver, abseiler, rock climber and was a good cross country skier.
His family – he had two children, Shona born in 1984 and Thomas born in 1982. His daughter is a Theatre and recovery nurse and has two children and his son serves as a Warrant officer class 2 and has a daughter.
His early love (and expertise) in rugby continued throughout his career as he supported the Harlequins. In the late 80’s and 90’s he served on the Harlequins committee and was the president for 3 years. He took a step back from the running of the club in the 2000s and continued to support the club by watching most games and going to the old boy lunches. His son reports “I am also sure that as he got towards retirement he would have jumped back into the thick of things as he was never one to let things slip if he could help it.”
Thank you David Allison and Hank’s son Thomas for supplying much of the material about Charles.