Former Grafton eye doctor Bill Scales OAM passed away on 2 April 2020 at the age of 102.

Bill was born in England on 22 February 1918.  He was educated at Sydney Grammar School and studied medicine at Sydney University. Bill served in the RAAF during WW11 in various postings including Darwin, New Guinea, Indonesia and Borneo. Following the war Bill completed his Ophthalmology qualifications and he and wife Pat spent 25 happy years in Grafton where they raised their four girls.

Bill, who was known as ‘the eye doctor’, practiced in Grafton between 1950 and 1974.

During this time, Bill was very involved in the community and was a member of Legacy and Rotary, building sets and singing in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas and supporting his late wife Pat at the Pelican Players.

He loved his golf, fishing at Yamba and carpentry, producing beautiful furniture for the family home in South Grafton.

In 1974, Bill accepted a position in Adelaide. While there, he met Fred Hollows and undertook remote Indigenous work for which, among other service, he was awarded his OAM on Australia Day 2006.

Bill and Pat returned to the Clarence in 2015, first to Yamba and then to Maclean, where Bill resided until his death.