Eunice Clare CLARKE

Female 1919 - 2006  (86 years)


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  • Name Eunice Clare CLARKE 
    Birth 1 Jun 1919  Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Christening Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Family Tree Clarke, Munro, Woodgate, McQuinn 
    Religion Roman Catholic 
    Death 16 Mar 2006  Nazareth House Wynnum North Brisbane Qld Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Burial 21 Mar 2006  Nazareth House Wynnum North Brisbane Qld Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Lived 5 Ellis St. Bendigo, 7 Ellis St. Bendigo, 31 Connie St. South Oakleigh, Robert St Bentleigh, 2/11 Emily St Murrumbeena, 8 Pitt St. Sth Oakleigh, 3/6 Anzac St. Murrumbeena, Flat 3/?? Barrett St Cheltenham, 58 Cobar St Lota, present
      address 11/10 Preston Road Manly West 3818. 07-8932940 Started Lonsdale exchange then Bendigo schools. St. Josephs primary Quarry Hill. St. Killians primary Bendigo Central. St. Marys business college.

      Died At 1 Am

      Eulogy for My Mother
      I would like to thank all of you for coming here today to help us, as a family, to celebrate my mother's life. As her loving son, I have the honour to speak here today on your behalf and on behalf of our family.
      I have some very important 'thank yous' to extend; first to the staff of Nazareth house who have looked after her not just as a patient but also as a friend; and to Glen, Rae, Jeff, Peter, Andrew, Cerys, Dustin, Binda, Aurion, Fern and Lealer
      for the visits and love you gave when she needed it the most. To my father for being there when needed. But especially to Margaret and Lance who gave much more than love. Thank you both. And "thank you" to all of you here for being such
      wonderful friends, it was all of you that helped to keep her so happy. Thank You.
      My mother was born to Jessie and William Clarke of Bendigo and was the Youngest of six children

      Mum was born on 1 June 1919 at 5 Ellis St. five months before members of the Clarke and Munro family would be returning from the war in Europe and facing an uncertain future as the Great depression lay just around the corner. Before Eunice
      reached her second birthday and the hardships of the depression had started to take its toll, her father died from a lung related disease from many years below the earth breathing in the dust from the Bendigo Gold Mines. Her mother Jessie was
      left to bring up six children on her own. Though times were hard my Mother and her four sisters, Wilma, Norma, Muriel, Lillian and her Brother Bill they managed to have a fairly eventful childhood ably supported by her extended family in and
      around Bendigo. Just to give you an example of what life was like back then, my mother didn't live in a house with electricity until she was 15. I remember her always telling me how she did her homework or read her favourite poet by
      candlelight. They were supplied with vegetables from the Bill the Chinamen who's family survived by turning there entire yard into a vegetable garden. Many a swaggie would turn up at the door looking for odd jobs in exchange for piece of bread
      and dripping that according to my mother my Grandmother always managed to give them. Despite the obvious hardships, she did very well in school but due to circumstances left before she was able to fulfil her potential. Eunice attended St.
      Joseph's primary Quarry Hill. St. Killians primary Bendigo Central. and St. Mary's business college. She sat an aptitude exam in Melbourne with several Thousand other hopefuls to become a telegraphist in the PMG. The exam results (which I
      still have) shows mum as third highest score of the 2,381 who sat. She joined the Lonsdale exchange before returning to her beloved Bendigo and working in the exchange where a fairly colourful social life was had. Mum still exchanged letters
      with the girls she worked with in Bendigo right up until she became ill.

      Like so many others of her generation, my mother was a frugal person. She was raised during the Depression so she knew what it was like to go without. She learned to make do with what she had and to save when she had extra. Her tastes were
      simple. This enabled her to buy a block of land next door to her mother's in Ellis Street. But she didn't just save for her house she still managed to take the odd holiday or visit family in Melbourne. One of her visits to Melbourne with her
      eldest sister Wilma was to go to the 1931 Melbourne Cup, the only race she ever went to, It was the race in which the entire crowd booed the ARC in unison as they left there seats after Phar Lap lost the race with the heaviest handicap before
      or since that time. Mum also went on holidays to the coast to such places as Lorne, Apollo Bay or Queenscliff. I guess it was there that she first fell in love with the sea, not sailing in it or swimming in it, but looking at it and being
      calmed by it. When my Grandmother was in her eighties mum would often talk her down to Mentone or Sandringham beach and sit on the bench with a thermos and sandwiches. After her mother died she still visited the beaches around Melbourne
      regularly with a book and thermos. I remember when sometimes she would pick me up from school in her FJ Holden on a cool autumn night and we would stop for half an hour or so and have an ice cream while looking out to sea.

      Her most notable qualities were, her personal poise, elegance, grace, talents and wisdom. Mum was forever a student and thankfully, I think I can speak for Margaret, when I say she blessed us with her curiosity and thirst for learning. "Mother
      the Font", if I needed to know the meaning of some obscure word or expression I would call mum. Her energy for knowledge was boundless, she was aggravated by her audio problems but nothing stopped her. I can remember talking with her on the
      phone for hours discussing the latest political turmoil or some historical event that shaped our nation. If I wanted to know my latest Astrological reading or why my boss who was a Taurean was such a stubborn pain, she would give me the
      answers. Her favourite subject though was family history and when I became interested in Genealogy she was an endless supply of facts, quips and black sheep stories. I am very thankful for the history and the yearning for knowledge that she has
      passed on because it has also helped fill my life and let me follow my dream of University.

      There are so many memories of her that I scarcely know which ones to tell and which ones to leave out. One that seems to be standing out most right now is when my sister and I were having a dispute and I chased her from the back yard to the
      front where she disappeared through the front door. Unfortunately I was too close behind because as I started through the front door at full speed, Margaret closed it behind her and I went through the Glass pane in the door cutting my knee and
      other parts of my body. Mum appeared to see what the noise was and after surveying the scene of blood and broken glass ordered me to return via the back door even though I was obviously dying from loss of blood so I wouldn't get blood on the
      carpet.

      So Mum I am telling you all of this right now. I know you're listening to this eulogy up there in heaven. But today is your day and you'll be hearing your name all day long as we share our memories of you with each other. Rest in peace, Mum and
      don't worry about us, we'll be fine!

      You will always be my loving mother, my dearest friend. This is only a goodbye to your elegant dignified, worldly body. Your gifts will continue to sustain me until we meet again. I love you my darling mum. Thank you so much for being you.

      Dusk

      Lost rose! end my story!
      Dead core and dry husk --
      Departed thy glory
      And tainted thy musk.
      Night spreads her dark limbs on
      The face of the dim sun,
      So flame fades to crimson
      And crimson to dusk.
    Person ID I2969  Long Family
    Last Modified 19 Apr 2010 

    Father Frederick William CLARKE,   b. 24 Jun 1873, Golden Gully, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 7 Feb 1921, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 47 years) 
    Mother Jessie MUNRO,   b. 13 Feb 1877, Mandurang, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 28 Jun 1966, East Bentleigh Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 89 years) 
    Marriage 3 Jul 1902  Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Family ID F1448  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Marriage 9 Jan 1943  Bendigo, Victoria, Australia Sacred Heart Cathederal Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1261  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 11 Oct 2009 

  • Sources 
    1. [S52] VIC Birth Index.

    2. [S50] Vic Marriage Index.