Life
Houghton was born in Melbourne, the son of solicitor William Sharwood Houghton and Doris Thackery. He attended Melbourne Grammar School and spent a year at the University of Melbourne studying law, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. At the time he had also been working as an articled clerk in his father's law firm, Mills, Oakley and McKay. From 1940 until 1945 he served in the Australian Imperial Force, earning promotion to the rank of Lieutenant in 1942. When he returned to Australia in 1945, he decided not to return to the law, instead setting up as a farmer near Yarra Glen. In 1948, he married Audrey Gourlay.
After retiring from politics in 1985, Houghton concentrated on his family and his work as a farmer. He died in 2001, eight days after his eightieth birthday. At Houghton's funeral, former Victorian Premier Lindsay Thompson praised him for his conservation work, telling mourners that "That probably proved to be the best $6 million the government spent that year because Evan Walker took up the project and Southbank is now one of Melbourne's great assets." The funeral was held 16 January 2001 in St Peter's Chapel, at Melbourne Grammar.
The "Vasey Houghton Bridge," a bridge on the Melba Highway across the Yarra River, was named in his honour and opened on 23 January 1999.
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Famous quotes containing the word life:
“O that those lips had language! Life has passed
With me but roughly since I heard thee last.”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)
“It is a conquest when we can lift ourselves above the annoyances of circumstances over which we have no control; but it is a greater victory when we can make those circumstances our helpers,—when we can appreciate the good there is in them. It has often seemed to me as if Life stood beside me, looking me in the face, and saying, “Child, you must learn to like me in the form in which you see me, before I can offer myself to you in any other aspect.””
—Lucy Larcom (1824–1893)
“There is a delicate balance of putting yourself last and not being a doormat and thinking of yourself first and not coming off as selfish, arrogant, or bossy. We spend the majority of our lives attempting to perfect this balance. When we are successful, we have many close, healthy relationships. When we are unsuccessful, we suffer the natural consequences of damaged and sometimes broken relationships. Children are just beginning their journey on this important life lesson.”
—Cindy L. Teachey. “Building Lifelong Relationships—School Age Programs at Work,” Child Care Exchange (January 1994)