The Trewin family has shared some of Nancy’s stories that were read out at her funeral on Friday, May 14, 2021, with a couple of extra snippets.
Rhonda, on behalf of herself, Trevor, Yvonne, and families, thanked all who joined them to celebrate the life of their mum, Nancy May Trewin. Some travelled a long way, with a special mention to her sister-in-law, Lesley McQuinn, for making the journey.
Thank you to also went to Liz Spicer (nee Dryden: a long life friend of the family) for taking the service…Nancy would be absolutely thrilled to know this. And also to Adrian Jorgensen, the organist, who became a good friend of Nancy’s after he came to live in Wycheproof.
Thanks were also extended to Trevor’s wife, Kerrie (“Kegs”), Yvonne’s husband, Bill (Keane), and Rhonda’s husband Alleys (Trevor Allan) for their great support over the years, and to all those who have assisted and supported the family in preparing for Nancy’s final farewell –very much appreciated.
Prior to going into Aged Care, Nancy had a continual flow of friends and family from near and far visit her home in Mill street and this certainly was one of the reasons she was still the “sharpest tool in the shed” . . . her mind was always very stimulated and active. Nancy’s relatives and friends were thanked for this attention.
Nancy had a long and fulfilling life, and Yvonne and Rhonda shared some of the stories that happened along the way, known as the “dash”, between the start and end.
The Journey Begins . . .
Nancy May Allan, was born on October 3, 1929, the eldest daughter of the late William Thomas Allan and the late Dorothy Ellen Allan (nee Coatsworth), in the Wycheproof Hospital, and was raised on a wheat and sheep farm on the Birchip-Wycheproof Road, in the district of Cooroopajerrup.
She was born on the same day as her neighbour-to-be, the late Neville Dillon, and their fathers, being very good mates, would have no doubt enjoyed a long neck or two at the Narraport Green Mill, to celebrate the births of Nancy May and Neville.
Nancy shared her childhood and teenage life on the farm, with her late sister Mary and brother Neil, and sister Shirley and brother Graeme. She always called them her brothers and sisters. An example: “I saw ‘Brother’ Graeme yesterday at the football”, or “Sister Shirley’s garden is looking beautiful”.
Nancy commenced her schooling at Carapugna and then was seconded to Teddy Waddy West school, which was on the south-west side of Wycheproof, to keep the school open. She lived with Grandma and Grandpa Coats-worth and their daughter Jean, who was blind (it was where Nancy’s first younger cousin Ron Coatsworth and his wife Sharyn live today). Again, this would have been tough, as she was miles away from her family in her prep year of schooling. She then returned to Carapugna School, where she always rode a bike while her siblings were on horses.
For her senior years of schooling, Nancy and sister Mary, went to Charlton High School, catching a Beetle train each Monday morning from Dumosa. They boarded each week in Charlton from Monday to Friday. This period of life, is where she met her dear lifelong friend Yvonne Millard, after whom her daughter Yvonne was named. On weekends Nancy and Mary, would go back out to the Coatsworth farm at Teddywaddy West.
Holidays
As a child, holidays at Portarlington were such an exciting time in Nancy’s life. Her mother would make their clothes for their holiday, and they would venture down to her mother’s brothers, Uncle Jim and Uncle Willy’s farm for their family holidays at the sea.
The late Gus Allan, recalled on a number of occasions, “Nancy had a tough life as a child and growing up on the farm.” Possibly being the eldest child, and times were really tough for Grandma Allan, she relied on Nancy to work that bit harder with the chores. Shirley and Graeme may debate that, including Mary and Neil “upstairs”, but surely they all pulled their weight too.
Employment
Nancy was first employed as a cashier at McCall’s grocery and quite proudly said she was fortunate to have been asked for a book-keeper role at the ANZ Bank where Rhonda also worked for 24 years. It was a role totally suited to her, as she was brilliant with numbers and counting money. This role then set the scene for being nominated as treasurer for so many community organizations. Hundreds of treasurer reports have been drafted by Nancy, and she always balanced.
You would never dare question her about her figures and accuracy, as she knew exactly where every cent had been spent. Up until recently, she always kept a tally in her wallet each time she spent her money. That is a sign of, if you work hard for your money, you want to know where every cent of it spent.
It was at this point of her life she moved into town, and shared lodging with Marj Currie (nee Duncan), Fay Allan (Nee Holland) and sister Mary, at a boarding house owned by Miss Baker in Chapel Street. Nancy once recalled that in 1945, at the sweet age of 16, she could hear the bells ringing all over town when it was declared that the Second World War was over. She was very excited and what a relief that would be!
Sport
Nancy played basketball with Narraport on a dirt basketball court and the women had to walk across the road to the late Phil and Flo Allan’s home to get changed before a tin shed with dirt floors was erected near the court. No showers, hair dryers and straighteners to pretty up after the game. And Nancy recalled travelling to competing districts on the backs of trucks.
Nancy attended the Karyrie Church as a child, situated on the Birchip-Wycheproof Road, a few kilometres east of Tchum Lake. She then went on to be a Sunday School teacher there. Grandpa would take the kids to Church, whilst Grandma stayed home to cook the family roast. Nancy recently quoted one of Grandpa Allan’s sayings during her speech at the unveiling of the plaque: “If Church never did you any good – it never did you any harm.”
Nancy told the story about an annual anniversary for the Church, when the late Kit Dunn selected Valma Jones, Betty Gaylor and Nancy Trewin to sing on their own. Nancy said after weeks of practice the three of them got up on the big day, and just giggled all the way through the performance and it was a total failure; Nancy’s father was “not happy”.
A similar incident happened to Yvonne, cousin Barbara Hall (nee Arnel) and Rhonda at the Presbyterian Concert back in the late ’60s, when Rhonda was singing so hard her veins truly popped out from trying to reach the high notes, “and off popped my gorgeous black velvet choker from my neck, out into the crowd”. That was the end of the singing for Yvonne and Rhonda; they couldn’t stop laughing and suspect they got the giggling from their mother.
Yvonne continued Nancy’s story saying she was sure everyone would agree that Nancy was beautiful and a true stunner, with a gorgeous sparkle in her eye, particularly when she smiled.
Marriage
Pedalling her bike, Nancy caught the eye of a young strapping handsome chap, called Thomas Hugh Trewin, commonly known as “Hughie”, who lived on the same road, one mile east of Nancy, at a farm called “Parkvale”.
For all who knew Grandpa Allan, “Hughie” would have had to done everything right in courting Nancy, as the late W. T. Allan was quite a stern, determined and strong-willed person. Someone you would sure not like to “cross” if you did the wrong thing, especially by his beautiful daughters.
Nancy and Hugh’s relationship flourished and they married in the Wycheproof Presbyterian Church on September 22, 1954. They commenced their married life living on the Trewin family farm “Parkvale”. They had lovely neighbours and one mentioned was Jean Elder, who was known to be watching the funeral live with daughter, Janine, in Geelong.
With great joy they became the proud parents of a son, Trevor John Trewin, on August 17, 1955, followed by Rhonda Fay on July 9, 1957 and Yvonne Dorothy (after her Grandmother) on September 19, 1958.
Busy Life
Life was very busy on the farm for Nancy, looking after three not so quiet and gentle children, whilst trying to provide lunches and some accommodation for the workers, shearers, doing the books, feeding chooks, gathering eggs, and the list goes on and on.
“Hughie” could see Nancy needed some help, and they were extremely lucky to have a very gentle lady, Pat Stahl, come to aid them with this heavy workload. Through this connection Nancy and Pat, and her sister Mary (McNicol), became lifelong friends.
The late Betty Willis, a very close friend of Nancy’s and her sister Shirl, told a story of times she was working in the local grocer’s store, and when they saw Nancy pull up with her kids, the staff would say “here come the Rewins”, and quickly try and put all the breakable stock away. Many a person agreed they were known to be wild kids.
The couple had the misfortune of not giving birth to what should have been seven children in total, with a baby being still-born very close to the delivery date. Back at that time, the support of today was not available, the matter was pushed under the carpet, and life was to go on. One would shudder to think if there had been 7 “Rewins” running amok in the shops.
As time passed, her husband could see she was struggling, was concerned, and decided to purchase her some golf sticks. This was a great decision, as it paved the way for Nancy to start learning the game of golf, which gave her the opportunity to make some wonderful friends, with whom she remained very close, right up until she passed away.
For those who know of the old farm house at “Parkvale”, Rhonda and Yvonne were unfortunate enough to have slept out in the “sleep-out” at the farm. To get to their bedroom, they had to sneak through their parents’ bedroom. Sneaking through after a night out, with heels on shoes higher than their legs, with the sun sometimes coming up, next minute would be greeted with “Where on earth have you been?” Nancy always woke up with the chooks! . . .
Whereas Trevor John had his own bedroom with an outside door, so he could get home whenever he liked without their parents knowing what time it was. Although surely they would have heard the Kingswood coming up the driveway in the wee hours of the morning.
Communities
Right from an early age, Nancy endeavoured, as one of her main purposes in life, to contribute as much as she could to the Narraport and Wycheproof communities, and she certainly excelled with this goal.
Nancy’s family is very proud of the passion and commitment she gave to the community. In the 1960s, she was an official compiler at swimming carnivals, not only while her kids were swimming, but also continuing on for a number of years, after her children had finished competing at these carnivals.
She was a passionate and hard-working volunteer for the Narraport Basketball and Football clubs, and after the amalgamation of the Wycheproof and Narraport clubs, she went on to, at various stages, hold all executive positions of the Wycheproof-Narraport Football Ladies’ Auxiliary.
She still donated knitted Demon beanies for the last Wycheproof-Narraport Football Club Goods and Services Auction, and has done so for the past few years. Prior to this, it was always a basketful of home-made cooking, which was always a popular and keenly sought-after purchase at the auction. Her dear friend, Mary McNicol, did exactly the same, and they were both so proud with the funds received for their cooking as a donation to the club.
Nancy was a very active sporting competitor with the Wycheproof Golf and Bowls Clubs. Whilst competing, she took on the roles of president, secretary, treasurer, public relations officer, and pennant selector. It would be fair to say, she always had a role whilst she competed. Only until very recently she was the PRO for the Wycheproof Golf Club, even though she was not playing.
Travelling
She made many friends through her sport and also did some trips with her friends; this is one of them:
Nancy went on a cruise with her close friends Betty Taylor, Jan Vearing and Val White. While on the cruise, they visited an island by tender boat, and all agreed to meet back at the tender boat before going back to the ship. Nancy must have got this message mixed up and decided to go back to the ship early. Betty, Jan and Val searched the island, couldn’t find her, so Jan took the tender boat back to the ship, to see if she had checked in.
Sure enough, she was back on board. Jan went to the room and there she was, sitting back, feet up, relaxing. Jan said “Nance, we have been looking everywhere for you”. To which Nancy replied” I had enough and wanted to come back to the ship”.
Nancy and Jan decided to go to Bingo while Betty and Val came back to the boat, leaving a note in the room “Gone to Bendigo, come and join us”. They realized that Nancy had meant to write “Bingo”. When Betty saw her, she said “Hey Nance, how do you think we would join in Bendigo, swim there? This has been a long standing joke for many years to come.
Church
Church was a big part of Nancy’s life. She was a Sunday School teacher for the Karyrie Church in her teen years, and then went on to be an active volunteer taking on a variety of executive roles for the Wycheproof Presbyterian Church, and later the Wycheproof Uniting Church.
Nancy was an Elder of the Uniting Church, and has on many occasions in the absence of a Minister, compiled and conducted the services.
Prior to having a stroke back in August 2020, she was conducting the services at the Wycheproof Hospital every second Friday, and also sang and had music with the residents of the Hostel at the Hospital.
Nancy was able to do this with the kind and generous thoughts of the Uniting Church pianist, Adrian, who played organ at Nancy’s farewell service. Adrian would pick Nancy up and drive her to this hospital for both events. Thank you Adrian, as these visits to the hospital were so important to her, and the whole family, who sincerely appreciate your efforts assisting her to do so.
Andrea Coatsworth and the Uniting Church team are appreciated for their wonderful efforts in setting up and presenting the Church and Sunday School beautifully.
For many years Nancy collected stamps from various businesses in Wycheproof. She would cut and sort them and send them off to the Uniting Church office in Melbourne, where they are used as a unique income stream to help finance a variety of charities.
Many people in the Wycheproof and Nullawil districts knew to save their stamps for her. This initiative raises many thousands of dollars for the Uniting Church to be able to distribute to those in need. Now her younger cousin, Pam Wallace, who was very close to Nancy and who Nancy thought the world of, has taken over this role. Thank you Pam.
The Wycheproof Uniting Church has been a key catering organisation for the Wycheproof community. Nancy worked and cooked at nearly all of these functions. weddings, (including her daugthers’ weddings), fairs, street stalls, funerals, Senior Citizens lunches, Lions Club, to name only a few. She was well-known for her delicious salad dressing, rum balls, plum puddings and hazelnut slice.
Church was so important to Nancy and she had a strong Christian faith. She learnt and taught the Christian faith, and then later in life, as a Church Elder, she was equipped to take the Church services in the absence of a Minister.
She got so much pleasure out of taking Church services at the Hospital, doing her best to help the residents of the Grandview Lodge to maintain their Christian Faith, along with her friend Wendy Hutcheon and the organist Adrian, providing singing for entertainment to the residents.
Up until about 12 months ago, Nancy in her kindness, was doing her best to pick up and drop off a few elderly locals who were less fortunate than her, to get them to and from Church, singing at the Hospital and on other occasions when she could help out.
Hospital Auxiliary
Another key organisation that provides catering in Wycheproof is the Wycheproof Hospital Ladies’ Auxiliary, of which Mum was again, until recently, an active member. This group caters for the well-attended Wycheproof sheep sales, and luncheons and afternoon tea at the Mt. Wycheproof Race Club annual race meeting.
At the ripe old age of 90, Nancy was still sitting on the door of the luncheon and afternoon tea, selling the tickets for the day. People who have worked alongside her, will agree she has always been a great person for labelling everything with that big black texta. Evidence of this is still present in the kiosk at the Wycheproof-Narraport Football Club. And one of her sayings is still present, “Many hands make light work”.
Support
Through all of her community work, Nancy enjoyed working and playing sport alongside so many great friends and relatives she dearly cherished, not only from the Wycheproof and Narraport communities, but also many neighbouring districts. She was a very keen and loyal supporter of the Wycheproof-Narraport Football Club. She got so much pleasure from watching her husband play, and then this to be followed on by her son Trevor and then later on, her grandchildren.
Several years ago Nancy was extremely proud when all of her nine grandchildren played for the Demons in football, netball or hockey on the one day. The main reason she didn’t go to the football on May 8 was it was too long of a day for her at Wedderburn. Rhonda called in Saturday night to drop off the “Recorder” and give her a run-down of the day, and she was asked to put the TV on Channel 7 ready to watch the AFL game. Football was a big part of Nancy’s life.
Sayings
Her children will never forget their mum’s sayings that she inherited from her late father. As kids, and then later their extended families, all have heard sayings such as these:
“Share and Share alike.”
“Do unto others as you would like done to yourself”
“The best things in life are free – God’s good sun, air, and water”
“Alleys” and Bill always added, “and your son-in-laws, Nance!”
“If a job’s worth doing, do it properly” . . . no half measures!”
“Blood is thicker than water.”
“Put things back where you find them.”
“Children should be seen, not heard.” (Not all of her children agreed with that one.)
“Be humble” is probably the one her family all heard the most. If a trophy was awarded to any family member, Nancy would offer congratulations you to be followed by, “Be humble”.
However, her family often got the last laugh. At times, when Nancy may have played a good game of bowls or golf, or the team may have won the game, she would sit up straight in her chair with her chest out, and say something like, “You know, such and such from Wedderburn said to me after the game, ‘Nance, the team would not have won without you’.” (You can say things like that to your own family.)
Cooking
Nancy started cooking and competing in the Wycheproof A & P Society Show at a very early age. Year by year, she cooked, and her list of entries and prizes grew and grew. And she really was very competitive!
Being humble, again she didn’t mind proudly telling us if she won the shed aggregate. She continued to cook and assisted as a steward for the Cooking Section for many, many years.
Nancy was renowned for her good cooking, and her freezer was always full to the brim with her efforts, with everything clearly labelled. All the grandchildren loved to visit Nanna’s, and they would go straight to her freezer, open the rum ball container, put one in each hand, one in the mouth, and then have a competition to see how many they can fit into their pockets.
Nancy was very proud and thrilled to have nine gorgeous great grandchildren (and also excited to know that there are another two on the way) who also at a young age, developed the love for her rum balls.
Swimming
Another one of her sayings was, “Get outside and play” — and “play” we did, more like “played up”. Here are a couple of stories from Rhonda:
“Sport was instilled in us at a very young age. Trevor, Yvonne and myself were introduced to the sport of swimming. We swam competitively from the age of 7 until 15. We were very fortunate to have very supportive parents who encouraged us to be involved, and thank Mum and Dad for the many sacrifices they made.
“We would travel into town each night for our training at the Wycheproof swimming pool and Dad would wake us at daylight. ‘Time to get up and train, it’ll pay off one day,’ he would say, as we would wipe the sleep out of our eyes on the walk over to our farm house dam.
“The cold water of the Waranga filled dam certainly woke us up quick smart, but the good thing about it we knew there would be a reward at the end. Mum would always have hot buttered, fruit muffins ready for us when we finished, yes, they were bloody beautiful.
“In the swimming days, we used to eat like horses. For many years Mum and Dad took us to the many swimming carnivals around the region. We also lived in Melbourne for a few weeks over the summer holidays, and trained 3 times a day, every day in the Olympic pool. We were also joined by the late Murray Morrison family (Dad’s first cousin), and the late Olive Hooper’s son Noel, with whom we had a lot to do.
“This commitment by Mum and Dad is something we will never forget, and this ingredient certainly encouraged us to be actively involved in the ‘world’ of sport for our lives to come.
“As I mentioned before, we were always told to get outside. Back then, no sun block was put on our faces and the evidence shows today in well-weathered Mallee girls.”
Water Skiing
Another story Rhonda shared:
“When we were very young we were allowed to take the old Blue Kingswood Holden over to the Waranga channel. We would hook up a long rope and water-ski behind the car. Skiing on the channel certainly made us very good, straight skiers.
“One day Trevor was driving, I was skiing and Yvonne was playing down the other end in the channel. She didn’t realize we were coming up close until it was too late. Not knowing where to run, she ran straight into the Kingswood.
“Next thing we saw Dad coming across the paddock in the ute. Trevor and I were saying, ‘Get up Dot, you’ll be right, just get up’. Dad pulled up and said ‘Everything OK?’ ‘Yeah, all good’ we said. As soon as Dad left, Dot was limping around bawling her eyes out. Mum and Dad never found out until it was announced in a speech at Dad’s 70th. birthday some years ago.
“When I think about it I can’t believe Mum and Dad let us to do that, but you know, it’s the risks in life that you learn from — as long as you survive!
“Another moment I recall is the time we were made to go outside and play (AGAIN), and Trevor, our lovely older brother, cranked up the old lawn mower and chased Yvonne and me around under the veranda and around the garden with great determination to get us. We learnt to run fast at a very young age.
Holidays
“Each year (apart from the 1967 drought) we went on holidays down to Portarlington and also visit the Coatsworth farm. Then we ‘progressed’ to interstate travel and went to Adelaide (Glenelg and Henley Beach) for several years. Only a couple of weeks ago, Alleys and I were there to board The Ghan with Allan and Gill Fawcett. I told them of the year (1966) the Beaumont children went missing and we were on the Glenelg beach that very same day. Back home, Grandma Allan (Dorrie) was very anxious thinking it was us three children (2 girls and a boy of similar ages) when it was announced on the National News. We joke that the culprit may have eyed us three off but thought, ‘No, I’m not taking them, they’d be too hard to handle.’
“Speaking of Allan and Gill, we thank them for getting married in Wales back in 1991, as this encouraged Mum and Dad to do a 10-week Europe trip while they were over that way. They also went to New Zealand and did a lot of Australia, including Tasmania, for other holidays.”
Before Yvonne finished up, Rhonda personally and publicly thanked her mother for everything she had done for her, Alleys and their families. Nancy lived a full life and touched many people’s hearts. It is people like her who have helped keep our small, rural towns alive and well, and she will be so missed in the community.
Anniversary
Yvonne finished by recalling how fortunate Nancy’s family was to celebrate her 90th. birthday anniversary with her in 2019; she was very fit and well and had a wonderful time doing so. The family donned the Demon beanies, bowls outfits and Nancy’s wedding dress as part of the celebration. At this point, you would’ve have thought she would make 100. Her response at this point of how are you going, “I’m good as gold,” was the reply.
Unfortunately Nancy suffered a stroke back in August last year. It was from this point on that her health began a slow decline. Being so strong-willed and determined, she did her utmost best to be independent to remain at home, and live by herself. There were times when this occurred; however, as time went by, she was required more and more services to help her to stay at home. She was so fortunate to have a dear neighbour, Betty Cullen, pop in frequently during the day, which was so kind of her, and Nancy and her family really appreciated her help.
“Up the Hill”
Against her grain, and when it became clear she could no longer “Scratch around like an old chook”, as she would say, she made the hard decision that she needed permanent care and could no longer live independently.
She moved “up the hill” on February 1, this year, to become a resident of the wonderful Grandview Lodge, after her saying for many, many years, “I don’t want to ever end up at the hill.”
The staff were unbelievable, and Nancy was in the best of care, and spoke highly of them all. On behalf of Trevor, Rhonda and Yvonne, Dr. Ken and the Staff of the Grandview Lodge were sincerely thanked for all the support, kindness and care provided to Nancy, including the other residents who were like a family. Thank you for your companionship.
Life became a battle for Nancy towards the end, and her quality of living was becoming extremely poor due to her legs. She was now saying, “I’m really battling,” and she had lost her spark in life. All of Mum’s family were so fortunate to have been able to quickly get home for her last hours, to surround her, and show and tell her how much she was loved and how important she has been to those around her.
Yvonne said, “It was a very special day, one we won’t forget, and Mum has made sure we will never forget her on Mother’s Day.”
“Mum, we will do our best to keep you proud of your family, and we promise to stick together no matter what happens, as you have taught us that ‘Blood is thicker than water’.
“Thank you to our beautiful Mum, rest in peace in heaven, and we will hold you proudly in our hearts forever.”