Mum was born and grew up in Lynnhurst. She went to elementary school there, she was one for a group of kids who played together and explored the nearby woods and waterways. She attended Saugus High School and then started training as a nurse. During that year, she met my father, Walter.
 

She succumbed to his charms and his persistence, and they were married in January, 1951. I was born in August that year. My sister Micki was born less than 12 months later, then three boys in four years. There was a stillborn, then two more girls, then another stillborn.
 

Initially, my parents lived with my mother’s parents, but when I was about 6 months old, they moved into a small apartment in Nahant, and after 6 more months, they moved into a duplex in Lynnhurst.
 

In 1957, with help from mum’s parents, they bought the house at 32 Tontaquon Avenue.
 

Mum worked part time at a retail clothing store to help make ends meet. Dad worked mainly at gas stations until he got a job at Dewey & Almey in 1960.
 

Then, in 1963, the house was sold and plans were made to travel to Australia. We lived between the two sets of grandparents for about 3 months before finally leaving Saugus on May 30, 1964.
 

Life in Australia was tough, but it was also exciting. Mum was something of an artist, mainly painting and drawing, and she was friendly, intelligent and good-natured. It didn’t take her long to make friends, starting with Audrey Davies at the migrant hostel. Once we left the hostel and settled into a house in Surrey Hills, we immediately made friends with the Prasads, and she soon found work at a bookbinders.
 

We stayed about 6 months in Surrey Hills, then moved to Hartwell for a few months, then to Ringwood at the end of 1965.
 

I think it was during 1966 that she started teaching. She was a good teacher, well-regarded by staff and students alike, and she worked at being the best teacher she could be. Based on her high school results, she taught mainly maths.
 

At the beginning on 1967, we moved into a house in Aloah Street, Bayswater. That was the nearest thing we got to having a family home. Mum and Dad were doing it tough, and the relationship suffered. In 1972, Mum ended the relationship and moved to Monbulk. Although she had left the kids with Dad, most of them eventually made their way to Mum’s. She was in a relationship with Derek Pearse which lasted about five years or so.
 

In 1981, she met JB, which put her firmly into the social life of the folk scene. A year later, they were married. In 1983, she stopped teaching and went to university full time. In 1987, she finally qualified as a teacher, and continued her career teaching ESL and Australian History.
 

She and JB bought a house in Coburg shortly after they were married. It became a creative endeavour to restore the house to its late Victorian glory. They loved that house, and there are many good memories associated with it. However, JB’s job as a lawyer was under a cloud. Mum hadn’t realised that JB was not a partner in the firm, as had been the plan when he joined it, but an employee. In addition, he had been taking pay cuts. She found this out in 1989.

They continued on, getting by reasonably well, but they were forced to take out a loan based on their equity in the house. Mum retired from teaching. JB lost his job and took up locum work. Finally, in 1999, they sold the Coburg house. They had enough money to repay the loan and buy a house in Knoxfield. She had a little cluster of kids living in the general area – Melanie at Wantirna, Mickey in Bayswater and Kate in The Basin. I know she wanted to be closer to them.
 

At around that time, JB was diagnosed with a small lung cancer, which was successfully treated. He continued to work as a locum for a number of years. Mum pursued her interest in religion and spirituality, and did a course as a pastoral worker. They continued to offer hospitality on a frequent basis.
 

In 2014, they sold Knoxfield and went into aged care.