Death Notes

Life Story read out during the funeral service.  Written by Sue Lomax.

Masie (our Mum) was born on 30th November 1920 at Port Wakefield, she was the third of four children, having a sister and two brothers.  She attended East Adelaide Primary School and Norwood Technical High School.  She had a wonderful childhood in a loving family and she and her younger brother Jim used to go to the river Torrens at the end of Battams Road which was not far away and they used to catch yabbies and build a fire to cook them and eat them, something you would not be allowed to do today, it was a much more carefree life.

After leaving school her first job was working in the local grocery store (no supermarkets in those days) and she had to weigh the flour, sugar, etc. into brown paper bags.  Her pay was 10 shillings a week.  Her next job was working in the coat department at Myer.  It was during this time that she and a girlfriend were at Elder Park and met two soldiers in uniform and one of them Ron, who came from Sydney became her future husband.  He was on leave and had to go back on duty so he told Masie he would return for her 21st birthday and to Mum's surprise he did and after a courtship they were married.

This union lasted 56 yeas until Ron (Dad) died and during this time Masie became a mother 7 times over a period of almost 21 years, she had 5 daughters in succession then one son and then another daughter.  Needless to say Mum's life was very busy and she did everything to make her children'slives happy ones, she was fortunate that by the time the youngest two children were born, the older ones were able to help with the baby sitting and chores.  She was a wonderful Mum.

Mum had quite a few holidays interstate and when in her 60's she and Dad with her brother Jim and his wife Barb toured around Australia over quite a few months in their caravans and it was one of the loveliest times she had and she deserved to have a break and have Dad all to herself as all the children had left home by then and had their own families to enjoy.  Over the years the family grew and Mum became Nan to 19 grandchildren and Great Nan to 33 great grandchildren and there will soon be another one.

In summing up, Masie (Mum) had a very long fulfilling life reaching the age of 93 years.  She was so alert, even at the last in the hospital and was able to tell in person or by phone call to members of her family how much she loved them and how proud she was of them and we, her family, feel so proud of her, we couldn't have asked for a lovelier matriarch for our huge family.  There is not a single one of us who didn't adore her, she had a great sense of humour and always seemed ageless.  Our lives have been so enriched by her and we will all miss her as she was the one who passed on all the gossip and kept all the family in touch with each other by telling the others all the news that we shared with her.  I am sure everyone present today gives thanks for our beautiful mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend and that we were lucjky enough to share our lives with such a lovely person.