Lorna Davies
Taking after her mother, Lorna was a gifted tailor and worked in the city of Melbourne, possibly in the Block Arcade, at a prestigious dressmaker designer. We believe she was given the responsibility of finishing off the creations with beading and other fine design elements. When the war broke out, the designer was requested to produce uniforms instead. Lorna was not thrilled with this outcome and eventually left. Later Lorna’s parents bought her a residence / shop in Burke Road in Camberwell where she could live as well as make and sell her beautiful creations.
While on a holiday at the Mt Buffalo Chalet, Lorna met Frank Napoleon Hobson and they fell in love. Frank was working there as a Park Range in the National Park surrounding the Chalet. They married in 1950 and settled down in Wakool in NSW, over the border from Kerang. Frank worked as a Stock & Station Agent for Younghusbands. Unable to have children of their own, they adopted Heather Noelle in 1957 while living in Wakool. In 1964 the little family moved to a farm called “Ooroonong” 12 kms out of Moulamein in NSW just over the border from Swan Hill. There they farmed two rice crops and a wheat crop each session. They ran Merino sheep plus a few cattle. A couple of years later, the family moved in 1966 or 67 to Euroa in Victoria. Here Frank returned to being a Stock and Station Agent for Younghusbands. He remained with this company until his retirement. During this period, the company was bought out by Elders. In 1988, Frank Hobson died. Heather was 30, happily married and living on the Gold Coast. Lorna stayed on in Euroa until the late 1990’s while her daughter Heather moved to Brisbane for the 1900’s. Lorna moved to Benalla and Heather moved back to Melbourne. In the early 2000’s, Lorna settled in Shepparton. Lorna was very creative and turned her hand to pottery making and tapestry. On the left is an example of her pottery and a couple of her tapestries. Heather still treasures some of her beautiful creations. Wherever Lorna ventured, she established a wonderful garden full of colour. She had an amazing green thumb. Lorna loved to spent time with Jack Hayes discussing Hayes family history. When Jack Hayes died, Lorna took on the role of being the representative for the Edward line on the Committee. She did this for many years and created a fabulous album of photos from all the families in Edward line. For each family, Lorna attempted to include a photo of them as a child, their wedding photo and photos of their children. Everything was well labelled. The album is now available to be enjoyed at each Reunion with all the photos having been scanned and included on the Hayes Family Photo CD. Lorna was a great letter communicator with many family members over many years. Lorna’s niece Suzanne (Hazel’s daughter) stayed in touch with Lorna until Lorna moved from Shepparton to Somerville and communication was lost. Lorna lived in her own home, cooking and cleaning for herself until well into her 90s. Lorna become too unwell to care for herself, so her daughter Heather helped her move to a Somerville Hostel. Here Heather was able to visit regularly and ensure her mother was well cared for. Lorna died 7th March 2013 in Somerville in Victoria at the grand age of 100. She asked to be buried at Tatura in Victoria: Tatura because she had been attending the Presbyterian Church there while living in Shepparton and was very fond of the minister and his wife. This minister and his wife were in regular contact with Lorna for many years and cared greatly for Lorna. They stayed in close weekly contact especially in the last year or so of her time in Shepparton when she was becoming unwell. |
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