7
Jun
On Saturday 6th of June a small group of family and friends said their final farewells to Eve Hewett.
In a small service, Eve’s ashes we’re intered at St Andrews Anglican Parish in West Nedlands.
We would like to thank all of those that came to pay their final respects to Eve, your friendship, love and support meant so much to her.
On the 09 April 2009, Evelyn Hewett passed away. Gran left us just weeks before her 94th birthday.
Gran was a cherished mother and grandmother and will be missed by all who knew her. After many years she has now finally been reunited with her husband John.
Below is the eulogy as spoken by her son David at the funeral.
Mum, a partial remembrance of your very full and wonderful 94 years
Mum was born on the eve of ANZAC Day 1915 into a family descended from Archbishop Cranmer and the days of King Henry VIII. Cranmer is embedded as a family name and Mum was always very interested in her ancestry and proud of her heritage.
Mum was woman who had inherited many of the attributes and strengths of her father. Granddad was an outwardly, gruff, tough no nonsense armed security officer who spent his life protecting gold shipments from highwaymen during their journey from Kalgoorlie to Perth by horse and cart. A man who to his family was a gentle, caring and loving person, who was slow to anger but always a force to be reckoned with and respected by all for his good humour and great strength of character. A man of high integrity who always had great pleasure in having his family around him, particularly at Christmas time, and who enjoyed sharing his life’s activities with all.
I vividly remember helping him in the daily task of chopping wood for the wood stove. My job was to get a bowl from Granny and then to collect the live witchity grubs that were exposed during the wood chopping. Once the wood had been carried to the kitchen, Granddad and I would sit on the back steps and eat the fruits of our labour (minus the heads of course), much to Granny and Mum’s disgust.
Mum also inherited much from her mother who was a woman that was always there for whoever needed her. She was a very caring and gentle woman who quietly went about the business of raising the family and efficiently running the household during her husbands many trips away from home. Granny was a versatile and very accomplished cook who was quite happy to spend hours preparing very wholesome and appetizing food. Nothing pleased her more than seeing her family enjoying the feast she had prepared. Her scones were legendary and she loved to watch them being consumed, particularly be her grandchildren.
Mum embodied all her parents’ attributes and strengths.
Mum was the eldest of 7 children who out lived 3 of her younger siblings.
She was educated at Methodist Ladies College Claremont until the age of 15 when due to the pressures of a large family, she left school to attend Business College and eventually, through her skills, dedication and attention to detail, became what today would be known as the office manager of Parker and Parker, one of Perth’s leading law firms.
Her stenography and typing skills became legendary in that she could capture on paper with 99% accuracy a speaker’s words at whatever pace they were delivered while at the same time correcting grammar and inserting appropriate punctuation. A truly awesome skill that assisted me in gaining many a good result in school essays or projects.
Mum met, fell in love with and married John, a man born in Kalgoorlie, who was a soldier that had risen from the rank of Private soldier to Officer in a very short time due to his outstanding ability as an instructor and leader. They honeymooned in Bunbury for a couple of days during one of Dad’s leave periods and spent their wedding night on the balcony of the Rose Hotel watching war games in the street below as it was too noisy to sleep, so mum said.
Mum was always a great story teller and had many memories of the war years and the people she knew or worked with. She would talk about those who went and never came back and those like Ralph Honnor, a lawyer from Parker and Parker, who as Commanding Officer of the 39th Battalion, played the major role in defending the Kokoda Track.
Another of her anecdotes relates to one of my uncles, Keith Benwell, who was a great mentor to me in subsequent years after Dad passed away. Keith was a young Signal Corps Lieutenant on Dad’s staff, who rode a motor bike and who at that time was courting Mum’s younger sister Trish. As the story goes, Mum and Dad would arrive home from a date and Keith, who was supposed to be on duty, would sneak out the back door, push his bike for a while before riding back to his post. Dad, at Mum’s request would turn a blind eye to this and it became one of those family stories that all would laugh about in later years.
Mum had a life time interest in many of the arts and thoroughly enjoyed participating in and watching ballet and live theatre. I’ll never forget watching her get enormous pleasure from seeing Nureyev dance. As a member of Perth’s Patch Theatre Company, she participated in many stage productions. During her acting career she played many wide ranging roles from naïve young woman, femme fatale, aristocratic lady and villain. As a boy, it never ceased to amaze me that this very warm and caring person that I knew and loved as Mum could also be so many other people. I clearly remember her pride when she took me along to join in the junior acting classes that used to be run on Saturday mornings by one of her coaches and mentors. Unfortunately my subsequent attendances were not necessarily motivated by the right reasons as I was one of three boys amongst 15 attractive girls.
Subsequently she produced, directed and acted in many local community productions including one or two at the request of the 15 odd children who lived in Robinson Street Nedlands at that time. Having got home from school, Mum would feed the hungry hordes afternoon tea and then we would all gather in my room where mum would explain what we all had to do and say. To this day I think some only participated so they could have some of Mum’s wonderful afternoon teas.
When Dad died suddenly in July 1968, I was in my second year at University and Geoff was in second year high school at Christ Church Grammar School. Mum, with quiet determination and many long hours of hard work, ensured that both of us completed our education and were able to enter the workforce suitably prepared.
She continued to work full time on the preparation of books for publishing by the University of WA and a number of other private authors. At the university she worked with Professor and Dr Berndt on several anthropology texts relating to West Australian Aboriginal tribes and cultures. Another of her other achievements was the preparation of a book called “The Great Ride”, which was part story of the 10th Light Horse Regiment and the Light Horse Brigade Scout Unit and part biography Harry Bostock the author who had become one of Mum’s good friends.
When Geoff and I were eventually established in our careers and our families, Mum was finally able to pursue her own interests. She traveled to the UK a number of times, to meet and catch up with family there, while also further researching her family history. She visited India and Nepal and was in the first tour group to enter Bhutan. Where ever she went, she always made many friends. On one occasion when I dropped in I found her teaching English to a Chinese couple that she had met during one of her travels.
Mum always loved to help others, particularly those less able or less fortunate. For many years she sponsored children in underdeveloped countries. She also spent many years firstly as a volunteer and then as coordinator with the Nedlands Elderly Persons Home Support Scheme. A dedication that was recognized at an Australia Day ceremony when she was awarded the honour of Nedlands Citizen of the Year. I will never forget her saying to me on one occasion when she was in her mid eighties that “No Day, It’s not convenient to do that tomorrow, it’s NEPHSS shopping bus day and I have to go on the bus to help the old dears with their shopping”. It should be noted that the majority of the so called “Old Dears” were younger than Mum.
Mum was always busy doing something. So much so that we had to ring and make a time to visit or to arrange an event. While enjoying every minute of her very full life, Mum took her greatest pleasures from her family. While Geoff and I always occupied her lime light, our wives, Robyn and Susan, and particularly her grand children, Anthony, Kelly and Justine were very very important to her. She took great delight in being told who had done what and when. If the occasion arose that she was able to participate in or witness an activity or achievement she did so with much enjoyment and pride.
People were always her life’s focus but she gained most pleasure from her family. Family occasions with her brother and sisters, his wife and their husbands and her nieces and nephews were absolute priorities. She went out of her way to meet new people and sought opportunities to renew friendships through attending reunions of MLC staff and students, the Patch Theatre and Parker and Parker staff. The trappings of life were not important to her and she readily dispensed with them.
Throughout her life, Mum’s glass was always half full, she focused on the good in people and sought the positive aspects of any situation. When something untoward happened, she would reflect for a short while and then with a shrug of her shoulders say “Oh well, time to move on”. She rarely criticized but when she did it was always very mild.
In the latter years of her life, despite having to confront the re-occurrence of cancer and the significant and painful limitations of arthritis, she never complained and always endeavoured to maintain an outwardly cheerful appearance to the world. As an accomplished actress she was able to carry this off without the majority of people being aware of her true situation. Only those who really knew her would detect the subtle nuances. If you rang and asked how she was, she would invariably reply with “I’m fine” or “I’m OK” or “I’m alright”. “I’m fine” meant she really was fine but “I’m OK” or “I’m alright” indicated varying degrees of severity of a problem of some kind most often health related. The exact nature on the problem would only become apparent after persistent probing. No matter what was wrong with her, she did not want to feel that she was being a nuisance to someone or becoming a burden in any way. The maintenance of her independence was core to her existence.
While no one could ever replace Dad, you honoured me by allowing me to share part of Dad’s position in your heart. You shared so many of your inner thoughts, your fears and emotions and I was always very proud to be your confidante. I will miss your intellect and wisdom, your constant good humour and the laughter we shared, your encouragement and support that you gave me throughout all my life’s ups and downs. But above all I will miss you, your love and affection that you so readily gave me.
Rest in peace Mum.
Gday All,
Today I received a disc of photos from Neil and Carol and a DVD that was made by Bryan and Jenny.
I will organise a couple of pages and load both as soon as I get the chance.
Thanks very much to the 4 of you for organising both discs.
Cheers
Anthony
Hi Trevor
Your welcome to save any of the images on the site for your own collection.
To save the low res versions on the site when you are viewing the image click the link in the bottom left that says “Full Size Image” from here if there is a magnifying glass with a + sign on it, click the image so it is at full size … then all you need to do is right click on the image and “Save As”.
If you would like the full high res versions of any of the images please let me know and Ill send them to you.
I have managed to get Panorama Photos working and have started putting a couple of those up. With the general photos I am up to about day 7. I will keep working on them this week, its just taking me a bit longer to get it done at the moment.
Let me know if you have any hassles.
Cheers
Anthony
17
Aug
Two lurkers have been looking at your great pics.
Do we get a chance to download any? (help needed for the techno_not_so_savvy.
4
Aug
Gday All,
I hope everyone is well and that the shock of going back to work wasnt too horrific for everyone.
Sorry for the delay in getting the photos up. Life has been rather hectic since we got back.
Im having a week off starting on Thursday, so my plan is to get all the rest of the photos up on the site during this time.
If you check back mid week next week you should be able to see them all.
Im just trying to work out how to get the panoramas up now. The site unfortunately keeps trying to reformat the size down to a 800×600.
Cheers
Anthony
Great quality on pics so far.
Slide show on quicker turnover may be desirable.
6
Jun
Gday All,
Well I have started to process of sorting all the photos and doing the post production on a few of the best ones.
Im hoping to have the first series (at least) up this weekend.
I havent been able to incorporate a public album into the site as yet, if you have some photos that you would like to share with everyone please let me know either via email or by a comment on here and we’ll sort it out.
Cheers
Anthony
1
Jun
Well here we are …. I have finally got organised and got a site up and running.
Over the next week I will update all the content and upload all the photos as promised.
I hope that everyone is keeping well and look forward to hearing from you all soon.
Cheers
Anthony