Mr Heron’s wife Valda and two of his three daughters helped him celebrate this milestone at the Rotary meeting on Monday. 

He joined Rotary in 1967 at the invitation of his then boss Barry Edwards who was the manager of Angus and Coote in Orange. 

In Rotary, Mr Heron held a significant range of board positions, including president in 1982/83, treasurer, service director, bulletin editor, attendance officer and regional director for Probus Clubs.

Past district governor Geoff Bargwanna congratulated Mr Heron on his years of service. 

“Jim has contributed magnificently to Rotary, through his active membership, board positions and bringing the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards back to life,” Mr Bargwanna said.

“This community service effort has been aptly recognised by him being awarded a Paul Harris Fellow and subsequently that award being upgraded with a sapphire pin.”

His daughter, Annette Thorncraft recalled being a Rotarian’s daughter.

“He is a down to earth person who always turned up to give a hand at Rotary activities,” she said.

Orange mayor Reg Kidd, presented Jim with a personal letter of recognition for 50 years of service from the Rotary International president Ian Riseley, along with a gift on behalf of the community of Orange.

“It is people like Jim Heron that make Orange a wonderful place to live and work,” Cr Kidd said.

Mr Heron did his early schooling in Trangie and Cumnock and high school in Dubbo before moving to Orange where he was apprenticed to Parker and Gray Electrical. 

He worked at Orange Producers Rural Cooperative before joining Angus and Coote as their audiologist. 

Jim’s long term employer was the Ophir County Council where Jim’s telemetry system allowed technicians to be out fixing a power supply problem before the customer could ring for service.