In 1948, Grandview Heights in northeast Vancouver was developed as a sub-division to provide low rental housing for Veterans after the Second World War. Initially the streets were to be named after wildlife, but this was changed and the streets were named after personalities, battles and events from the two World Wars. The Chair of the Street Naming Sub-Committee was Alderman Halford Hal Wilson, who served as a Major during the Second World War.
Worthington Drive and Worthington Place were named on March 23, 1948, to commemorate Lieutenant Colonel Donald Grant Worthington and Major John "Jack" Robert Worthington of the British Columbia Regiment (The Duke of Connaught's Own). The only sons of Dr. George Harvey and Ada Matilda (nee Marshall) Worthington, of Vancouver, British Columbia and brothers of Elizabeth Louise Worthington. In memory of his sons killed in the Second World War Dr. George Harvey Worthington willed $100,000 to the University of British Columbia where both sons attended. Lieutenant Colonel Donald Grant Worthington and Major John "Jack" Robert Worthington were killed in the Battle for Hill 159 when a mix up in communication led tanks into a fatal battle with German Panzers.
