So many of her strengths were threads through her life – her faith, her kindness and compassion, her genuine interest in people’s welfare. We spent a few hours on Saturday with her, the last time I saw her, and so many things about our time together then were so typical of the grandmother I loved dearly.

What struck me most when Mum told me on Tuesday morning that she’d slipped away just before dawn was the fact that death wasn’t a worry to her. She knew her life was coming to an end, but she was ready. She had such a strong faith. She knew where she was going. Everything was in order, and dinky di. Her Christianity was a touchstone for her life, it wove its way through everything, with her strong sense of right and wrong allied to it. When I drove her to Diana and Leon’s place for lunch on Saturday somehow the conversation got round to our wedding, and she was recalling the reading that my sister Kathy had read - the classic ‘…so faith hope love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.’ And she wanted to know where in the Bible it was from. I was able to tell her it was Corinthians ( a rare thing for me to know a Bible reference!) and she was happy. Her well thumbed Bible, with the corners of pages turned down, was by her bedside until the end

She had grown up with the Church playing a huge role in her life. She attended St Georges Church Gawler all day every Sunday in her youth. Her good singing voice meant that she lead the choir, She also had the job of ringing the bells. She used to ring them before the Sunday services then run downstairs to join the choir. She was a gifted pianist as well – she was an excellent sight reader but never much good at playing things by ear. She learnt ‘pretty drawing room pieces’ from which developed her love of light classics which endured throughout her life.

She met her much loved and loving Russell at Church. Their relationship blossomed when she was a student teacher under his instruction when one day when they were preparing a lesson together he kissed her! They were ‘sweethearts and companions’, and though he died almost thirty years ago she would often say she missed him more and more every day. Grandma’s little sayings! We often recited them with her we’ll just have to remember them ourselves now!

She was a wonderful support to Russell in his work as a Headmaster. She taught him music – taught him solfa. She taught too – music and the junior grades - eventually settling in specialising in Grade 3. She did all the things expected of Headmaster’s wives – being a great support around the school; President of mothers club, and entertaining and socialising,

The family moved around as was the norm for country headmasters – Uncle Jim was born in Gawler, then the family moved to Penola, just near the Victorian border, where Mum was born. They arrived in Penola by train and the Baxter’s, a family associated with the school, met them at the station. They asked to be taken to a hotel, before they established themselves at the school house, but Mr Baxter instead put them up at their house. Grandmas spoke often of this act of kindness – she had a deep appreciation of people’s goodness and kindnesses.

From Penola they moved to Auburn, in the Clare Valley where they spent some 9 years. The story that lives on for me from their years at Auburn concerned the arrival of the family chooks. They, two bantam hens called Josie and Mollie, travelled the 43 miles from Gawler to Auburn perched on a broomstick in the back of the car!

From Auburn to Tailem Bend, then Tailem Bend to Adelaide, where my grandfather’s position was to a new school, Findon Primary School. They arrived to find all the school furniture stacked up in one room, but apart from that absolutely nothing, not even rubbish bins. Fortunately my grandfather had had the foresight to bring his box of chalk! It was whilst they were teaching at Findon that they built their dream-home at Hazelwood Park. Grandma was so proud of that house. Designed by an architect; built on deep foundations because of the Bay of Biscay soil, and with features like the high up windows that enabled them to have windows open at night and not be blown away by the night gully winds. Their dream home!

It was Grade 3 at Findon that Grandma taught Malcolm Blight; and my Grandfather coached him at football. She followed his career with intense interest: his Magarey medals in the SAFL; his Brownlow at North. She wrote to him after his Brownlow, and he wrote back, and then sent her a card for her 90^th birthday. She followed his coaching career with North and finally Adelaide – he was home! Adelaide’s two premiership wins were a great delight to her – she watched both matches; and read the newspaper reports avidly And his retirement last week was duly noted – a fine career that she felt the Milways had played no small part in!

She was such a kind, welcoming lady, with a deep concern for the wellbeing of others, and great interest in the people around her, family and friends. She always asked after people, and had a list a mile long of people she prayed for. Of course during the time we spent with her on Saturday she asked after my husband Peter’s father as she always does. She wanted to know how Gayle Gardner, a friend of the family’s, pregnancy was going, and was very pleased on Saturday when Gayle dropped into Diana’s house so she could see for herself. We all thought that Gayle looked huge, being due last Tuesday, but Grandma thought she wasn’t very large. Many the time we heard her tell of her confinements with Jim and Margaret – when you couldn’t go out during the day like nowadays – her craving for japanese jubes and how her labour with Jim was a ‘dreadful confinement’!.

She was always interested in how the great grandchildren were getting on – how John’s keyboard lessons were going and whether he was learning scales; whether Leon was musical too, and how we all thought Diana and Leon’s daughter Miriam was going to get on during their year in Palestine. She was so please that they’d managed to find good tenants for their house. She was interested in our week’s holiday at Wilson’s Prom, that we left to be here today – wanted to know whether we were going to take the canoe!

Her concern for other’s welfare extended beyond the family – she was a great supporter of the Christian Blind Mission, and had a strong concern for the welfare and rights of Aborigines.

I shed a few tears last night as I thought about picking some wattle from our garden to put on her coffin today. She’s always asked about the garden; what was growing, what John and Leon had growing in their garden patch; how the lemon tree which had been her wedding gift to us was getting on. I think I told her on Saturday that we had some daffodils out – but I didn’t remember to tell her of this wattle that was flowering for the first time. A pity. She would have liked to have known.

She loved company – she loved to talk, to share her tales, to share a joke. As we dropped her off on Saturday as we struggled to get her out of the car and into the wheel chair she asked me whether I thought a whip would be too inappropriate to give to some of the St Georges staff when she found them a bit bossy! I’m so grateful we had Saturday together – she looked peaceful and content as she remarked a number of times that she felt so happy that she was ‘one of us’, that she belonged. And we fed her prawns – along with crayfish another great love in her life!

She didn’t like her body giving up on her –not many people do I suppose! She was often concerned that she was too much of a bloody nuisance – though on Saturday as we managed the trip smoothly and relatively effortlessly, she was happy to remark that perhaps I’m not too much of a bloody nuisance after all! She had a great sense of style – was always concerned with how she looked and what she wore.

When I think of Grandma I think of all the things she used to say – ‘being as bold as Ned Kelly’, ‘if you can’t say something nice about someone don’t say anything at all’; ‘if something’s worth doing it’s worth doing well’; ‘sometimes I sit and think and sometimes I just sit…’ and of course ‘God loves you and so do I’.

But there’s one that sprang to mind when I started thinking about Grandma’s life. I’ve kept coming back to over the last few days and it now rings more strongly for me than it ever has:

‘Better than the gold of kings are the memories of happy things.’

Thanks Grandma, for your life and the memories.