Life Story Glimpses
From the life story of Lorraine, who began nursing at sixteen and spent a lifetime being the person others could count on. Told in her own words in the final year of her life.
When I look back now, it is my family that fills my mind. They have been my joy across every stage of life.
I am proud of what I have done, of the work, the years, the effort, though what sits above all of that is how I have lived. I have given where I could and never expected anything in return.
I began my nursing life at sixteen, not knowing what I was stepping into. I watched my first post mortem that same year. I learned to hold a family together in a hospital corridor at two in the morning. I stood at fifty-six gravesides and said goodbye. And I came back.
Every time, I came back.
From the life story of Sue Eggins, Kiama Electorate Woman of the Year, who has spent fifty years making sure Kiama remembers its own.
Suzanne (Sue) Eggins’ story begins in the back of an ambulance in April 1948.
Labour has started and the vehicle is making its way toward King George Hospital in Camperdown. The baby is arriving quickly. The ambulance officers glance at one another and suggest they should deliver the baby, pulling over because the verge will do and time is tight.
Margaret Genevieve Eggins nee Dolahenty considers this suggestion carefully.
“I don’t want people delivering my baby who may not have washed their hands. Take me to the hospital.”
She wants her child born where she is confident sterilisation procedures are followed. The ambulance continues toward Camperdown and Sue is born exactly where her mother demanded.
From the life story of Lesley East, who cares for her husband Vic through dementia, and finds tenderness in what the disease leaves behind.
He would go down to Rochelle’s flower shop and buy flowers for me, because he did love buying me flowers. She told me later that in those early days he would come in and buy them, then pop back the next day and ask, ‘Did I pay for the flowers?’ Or he would say, ‘Did I buy flowers this week?’ It was sad, but also very dear, because the instinct to buy the flowers was still there.
From the life story of Lorraine, who began her nursing training at Bulli District Hospital at sixteen, in the days when the Nurses Home was locked at nine each night.
Rules were strict and we were locked in the Nurses Home each night by nine pm. Once a week we could get a late pass until eleven pm. Of course, we eventually found a way around that rule.
The Registered Clubs scene was in its infancy and Thirroul Bowling Club was leading the way with acts like Johnny O’Keefe, The Delltones and Col Joy and the Joy Boys. My two best friends Maureen and Anne and I were on night shift and drew up a plan that probably would have had us sacked if caught.
One of the duties of the night shift junior nurse was to collect the key ring from Matron’s office at 6am and go to unlock the Nurses Home and wake up the Day Staff. This key ring had a huge number of keys so we thought one key would not be missed, so I removed the Nurses Home key and Maureen or Anne took it to have a copy made. The key was then replaced when we went on duty that evening.
All went to plan and I think the success of our daring was that the key remained with us, as we only had one key cut and it stayed just with us. If more than one of us needed the key we had a designated hiding place outside. We passed that key down to a small group of nurses following our graduation and have been told that it was passed on for many, many years until it was realised the rules were draconian.
Problem solved, and I was all of seventeen with several years still to survive.
An invitation
If there is someone in your life whose story you want to capture, I can help you do that.
We sit down. We talk. I write it.
You keep the story.