No it was not one of my clients!
It was my husbands paternal grandmother, a beautiful 94 year old lady.
Tonight in his grief I thanked him for sharing her with me. I have known her now for 15 years and met her in person about 10 years ago. Distance and time always being the inhibiting factor, she was in Wagga Wagga and we were in Adelaide and the rest of her family from Queensland to Mount Gambier, Dubbo, Sydney and her heartland Bourke, NSW.
She was the youngest of 7 children, 5 brothers and an older sister. She often recounted her story of how she started to become a nurse, but had to move home to nurse her Dad.
She rarely had a bad word to say about anyone and loved cricket. The love of cricket she said came from having five brothers.
She met her husband in Bourke and they shared a love of life together until he passed 10 years ago. She remarked how my husbands hands were just like Phil's and she loved that someone "had" them.
The DNA runs strong through her genes, her son, my husband and my eldest daughter all have similar traits and looks.
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| 90 years between those blue eyed girls |
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| All three lovely ladies, June 2011 |
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| Easter 2010 |
The last picture was actually in 2010 on our visit when I had her admitted to hospital following a double heart attack. She returned home as determined as ever and there she stayed for another year.
She had a smile that lit up a room and her eyes sparkled whenever she smiled.
She still had the final three cigarettes in a packet on her mantle piece from when she quit 25 or so years ago. Also on her mantle piece sat a heavy marble clock. It had been in her husbands family since 1905. Only her grandson could help her keep the clock time and it never chimed the same after it had to be repaired 3 years ago.
Her secrets were love, early to bed and early to rise, cross words to keep the mind sharp, reading the newspaper and watching current affairs programs such as Four Corners, Landline and Australian Story.
She was perhaps the longest subscriber to The Western Herald, Bourke's local newspaper and she always held her home town dear in her heart. I am sure today Bourke will feel it too. The Rice family and attached lineage has lost a beautiful lady.
From Dulcie onwards there are no other girls until her first grandaughter in 1976, as she had two boys and then no more girls again until our chubby cheeked, blue eyed angels came along. She loved being around them and was thankful for our journey's across the Hay Plains to see her.
I am thankful to have been a small part of her world.
R.I.P.
I also think that her best trade secret was not to put her hearing aids in until lunchtime, before that she didn't want to be bothered by anyone!
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