He loves his vegetables, he loves his cars, he loves family, his name is Ross Banwell.

The 93-year-old grew up on a dairy farm in Towamba with his brothers Des and Owen during the Great Depression which was tough, but reminisced about going to town on horse which was three miles away.

He studied at Towamba, Ourimbah and Miranda Public School and then at Sutherland High School and Sydney Technical High School before going to a teachers' college.

"I was really well behaved and never got the cane at school," Mr Banwell said.

"Kids were taught to behave well those days and they did because they knew they would get a hiding from their parents if they didn't."

After graduating from the teachers' college, a couple of the places he taught at were Gilgandra and Coonamble where he was also involved with army cadets.

In 1950, Mr Banwell made the move to teach at Goulburn High School even though he didn't know anyone in town.

He even stayed at a bed and breakfast for his first couple of weeks in town, but he would soon have a positive impact on many people.

"I continued with army cadets at the Goulburn Cadet where I became the first person to hold rifle weekends and also took the cadets canoeing down the Shoalhaven River," Mr Banwell said.

"I built the canoes myself."

The father of three went on to teach a couple of cricketers who left school early to pursue the sport professionally and even remembered seeing former James Bond actor George Lazenby, but never taught him.

He retired at 60 years of age.

Thinking back to life in Goulburn in the '50s and '60s, Mr Banwell said there were still a couple of similarities, but a lot had also changed.

"The main street looked the same then, but was less crowded," he said.

"I remember parking on the street went from parallel to straight and back to parallel parking.

"On the highway to Sydney, there was a stretch of road where people could drive at whatever speed they wanted to."

Outside of work, Mr Banwell and his friends used to go to the Masonic Temple and the Lieder Theatre while also taking on some volunteering work.

"In the mid '50s, my friends made me join the Goulburn Apex Club," he said.

"l would do wood drives for the orphanages and organised picnics for the kids."

Mr Banwell met his first wife Lorna at a technical college where she was the secretary and married her in 1954.

They moved to 133 Cowper Street together and while there, he put his woodworking skills to use by building his current house on Addison Street.

It was completed in 1960.

Lorna unfortunately passed away in 1979 aged 48, but Banwell was fortunate to meet Joyce who he would go on to marry.

The Addison Street resident always enjoyed going on holidays with his children, especially to South West Rocks and said he had been to every city in the country except for Perth because the drive was too long.

Not all trips ended well however, with one ending in a major health scare.

"I had a heart attack aged 64 at South West Rocks," Mr Banwell said.

"I was in intensive care at Campsie Hospital for three weeks."

Mr Banwell is a self confessed American car fanatic who loves songs from Doris Day and nowadays, enjoys shows like "The Chase" because it keeps his mind alert as well as "Sydney Weekender" and fishing shows.

"I have owned a Ford, a 38 Plymouth, a Pontiac, a Holden and a Nash Rambler," he said.

Mr Banwell used to love helping his father with the gardening on the dairy farm as a kid and it is no surprise that he has one of his own.

"I reckon I grow the biggest tomatoes in the Southern Hemisphere," he said.

"I love to watch things grow.

"There are goldfish, tomatoes, shallots, parsnips, onions, spinach, garlic, rhubarb, snow peas and common peas."

Ross Banwell is still going strong at 93 and loves having his children and grandchildren around for company.

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