Passing of GL Founder, Gil Freeman

Grow Lightly founder Gil Freeman sadly passed away after a short illness. We are very sad to share this news with our community, we are taking this time to reflect on the positive changes Gil made to our community and the moments we shared together. We are proud to have known him and honoured to continue his legacy.

We pass on this message from Gil's family as published in The Age - Obituaries:

On the 25th of March, we lost our beloved husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, and dearest friend Gil Freeman.

On the 25th of April, there will be a gathering of family and friends at the Masonic Centre, 25 Bridge St in Korumburra starting at 1pm.

Anyone whose life has been touched by Gil in the last 86 years is welcome to attend. Please pass this message on to those you think may not know.

We look forward to seeing you there.The Korumburra/Thornbury Freemans

There have been many messages from the people that knew Gil, or who were positively impacted by his actions in communities, below are some links to some of those messages, articles and walks down memory lane.

Chris Ennis from CERES wrote a lovely article which you can read HERE.

Gil was a co-founder of The Merri Creek Management Committee, and sat as Chair for 2 years for CERES in its early days. I especially loved how Chris wrote about Gil being like the "big trees" of our community.

Gil Freeman- front row 4th from the left

The Brunswick Voice has published an article which can be found HERE.

HERE is a link to a feature article the Brunswick Voice published about Gil back in 2023.

The Merri Creek Management Committee have published this article HERE.

Korumburra local photographer and Grow Lightly supporter, Karli Duckett, has posted a lovely tribute with photos HERE.

Numerous community members have left comments on our social media pages with outpourings of love and condolences for Gil and his family.