Town Talk | More extraordinary women

Kay and her husband, John, moved to the Goulburn Valley 40 years ago for a tree change. Kay was a midwife and neonatal intensive care nurse and worked at Goulburn Valley Health as charge nurse of the Special Care Nursery. After 10 years in this role, she took a year off to become a uni student and qualified as a maternal and child health nurse. This allowed Kay to teach at TAFE, where she worked part-time for seven years as a teacher in the child care diploma course and also as a reliever for the MACH service across the region. Later, Kay worked permanently in MACH centres in Shepparton. Kay and John are now retired – in that she is no longer a MACH nurse, and he is no longer a radiographer. However, if you think of retirement as a time of rest and relaxation, in this case, you should think again. John has been known to say that one day, he will write a book entitled Waiting for Kay.

After moving from Melbourne and looking for the idyllic tree-change property, Kay and John discovered Murchison. Once they had moved in, they were enveloped by the welcoming community and soon were involved in various town organisations. Firstly, Murchison needed a nice museum and there was fundraising to be done and grants that needed applications and extensions to the building as required. Then, with the help of a small team, there was housekeeping and maintenance — staffing was necessary, and visiting groups wanted history presentations and guided town tours.

Somewhere along the way, after Kay and John joined the team, Kay decided she had time to compile a beautiful book entitled Art Captured about the artwork of Hans-Wolter von Gruenewaldt, a prisoner of war at Camp 13 Murchison. For this, she received a Victorian Community History Award in 2018. Her proudest achievement, though, is the 2022 Award of Merit, ‘for exceptional service to history in Victoria’. (Please give that award some thought.)

In the early 1990s, Kay worked for the D.P. Jones Nursing Home as quality co-ordinator — to set up new policies and procedures to meet newly legislated accreditation requirements for aged care. The project was completed, and successful, with three years of accreditation.

Kay was then invited to join the board of management; she was president for three years. For many years, she also worked for the Wybalena Retirement Village.

Kay’s career focused on the beginning of life, but she now understands that there are similarities with the end of it.

Today, as well as holding the presidency of the Murchison and District Historical Society and continuing to take care of the beautiful museum and promoting Murchison’s amazing history at every opportunity, Kay is seeking another grant for another book; this one written by a German prisoner of war and translated, into English, by his daughter. Kay says it is a love story.

She also mentions the joy of catching up with her former students and discovering their successes in health services.

Kay represents the Murchison and District Historical Society on the city’s Heritage Advisory Committee. However, I first met her in 2021, when I received an invitation to visit the museum. I now consider both Kay and John dear and valued friends. I look forward to our next ‘chinwag’. (Kay and John have recently rediscovered this word and use it wherever possible — because it’s quaint. I use it only to make Kay laugh!)

Judi Hanlon

I first met Judi, briefly, when she was a customer of my store in the early 1980s. She was an efficient shopper and always in a hurry. She left me laughing.

When she came to The News as circulation and promotions manager, I got to know her well. She was always in a hurry and frequently left me laughing. Now that she has long retired from paid employment, she is still in a hurry. One day, a couple of years back, I actually got her to sit down, have a cuppa and talk. When she has time, she enjoys a chat — but not about her voluntary workload; never about her contribution to our community.

She is strong, independent and doesn’t need the approval of others. She is far from seeking pats on the back. My job now is to sort through my memories and decide what she will allow me to publish.

Judi had wonderful examples of community work from her four grandparents, Neil and Emma Hanlon and Fred and Effie Furphy. So, she quite naturally became part of the kinder committees, school councils and mothers’ clubs, Scouts and Guides, etc. She then moved on to the GV Hospital Ladies Auxiliary and worked as a volunteer for Community Care.

Two years ago, I mentioned her grandfather, and suggested that Judith carried some of his DNA. Well! I got into trouble for that — so I’ve got to be prepared for our next encounter.

During her years at this newspaper, she was appointed to various committees, including the Chamber of Commerce, Keep Shepparton Beautiful, Carols by Candlelight and Clean Up Australia, and the steering committee for KidsTown.

Her time as trustee to the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre was important to her and she remains friends with the other trustees — extraordinary women doing extraordinary work.

Of course, she volunteered for the Sydney Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Why not? Around this time, she also worked for Kids Helpline, fundraising at major Melbourne events.

Judi joined the Kiwanis Sunrisers because of their focus on children, and then added the Red Cross to her list.

It takes a minimum of five hours to drive to Bairnsdale — but Judith drove, taking other Red Cross members with her, as a bushfire raged on New Year’s Eve in 2019. Then she flew on to Mallacoota, to see what they could do to help in the wake of the natural disaster. She went back again towards the end of January.

During the bad days of COVID-19 (assuming there were any good days), Judi was delivering food for Red Cross and Shepparton Financial and Family Services, as well as assisting restaurateurs Azem and Jeihan Elmaz with their good work. These deliveries covered a substantial area, from Barmah to Nagambie and Yarrawonga to Rochester — and everywhere in between. They delivered hundreds of kilograms a day and, although the workload eased off somewhat, they delivered throughout the lockdown periods.

Not too long after, came the floods. Once again, she was listening to the stories that needed to be told, attempting to understand the grief and loss.

A couple of hours ago, I called her to get some sort of approval for this article, but she was just off to Vision Australia, to read this newspaper to the visually impaired. I know I have missed many of her activities.

Judi remains a part of Red Cross Emergency Response and is also involved in fundraising. She managed the Euroa Cinema for some years and remains a volunteer. She also works with Euroa’s University of the Third Age, of which she was a founder. Last weekend (as I write), she helped Clean Up Australia and assisted at Azem’s stall.

Last year, she originally declined an OAM for her contribution to the community. She was only persuaded by “a very nice lady from Canberra” who said, “It isn’t all about you. It is beneficial to the organisations you work for.” Judi hadn’t thought of it that way, and finally accepted the award.

It isn’t unusual for Judith to have a ‘bee in her bonnet’. The current one is about the rigmarole people must go through to become volunteers. She recently renewed her police check and working with children to work for Vision Australia. A week or two later, she found she had to do it all again to continue to volunteer for Red Cross. “Surely one current approval is enough?” she said. In addition, it all must be done online, which is inappropriate for some seniors. This prevents some from helping, which is a wasted opportunity for the community and the people involved.

Shepparton is fortunate to have Judi; this lady is inspirational, and there is no stopping her. I love her dearly and am proud to call her my friend. And now I’ll be lucky if she is still talking to me.

Thank you for your nice comments about last week’s ladies. Here is an example from Matt.

Hi Marnie.

I just wanted to thank you for your articles in The News (March 5) about two wonderful women I have the privilege of knowing, Joyce Dawber and Pat Moran.

I got to know Joyce through my involvement with the Shepparton Theatre Arts Group, where she has been an amazing contributor, on stage and behind the scenes.

And Pat’s son Richard has been a friend of mine since 1989 when our paths crossed at GMV 6 where we both worked on the local news service. Richard is now in charge of the Channel Nine bureau in Los Angeles ... a long way from Shepp!

I still enjoy running into Pat from time to time and enjoy hearing all the news she has of family and friends. And thanks for your Town Talk column as well — always a great read.

Regards,

Matt Dowling

And now, dear people, I am out of space. Remember to be as kind to yourselves as you are to others.

May it be easy, my friends.

Marnie

Email: towntalk@sheppnews.com.au

Letter: Town Talk. Shepparton News. P.O. Box 204. Shepparton 3631.

Phone: Send a text on 0418 962 507. (Note: text only. I will call you back, if you wish.)