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 Live now. Seize the day. We all
know these things, but it can be hard to live by our beliefs. Not so for
Marjorie Jean Nash. She turns eighty on the thirteenth of August 2003 and has
made the most of every one of those eighty years.
The music swells, skirts
twirl, feet tap to a staccato beat. It is 1943 and a handsome Australian
flying officer grabs Marjorie around the waist and rocks her high above his
broad shoulders only to deftly roll her back onto her feet. She twirls away,
but he catches her outstretched hand and pulls her to him. Everyone is
looking, applauding their energy and vitality, their skill.
CHIPS RAFFERTY
To dance with the famous Australian actor ‘Chips’ Rafferty, and to have him
tell her fortune, leaves seventeen year old Marjorie breathless and with
memories that will last a lifetime. But Chips isn’t the only dancer in the
room and soon she is twirling and spinning with another young officer, and
then, another. Marjorie loves to dance.
 FIRST WORLD WAR
Life was not always bright lights and fun. The First World War took her
father, Percival William Icke, away for five years. He left behind a wife and
six children and when he returned he had another five children. In 1923,
Marjorie was born in Ballarat, a famous Australian goldmining town. She was
the third child in the ‘second family’ and her big sister, Myrtle, from the
‘first family,’ looked after her. In such a large household big siblings
cared for little siblings. However, Marjorie's mother was the undisputed
matriarch of her large brood. She always called Marjorie by her given name,
but her father had several nicknames for her: Marnie, Minnie or Mickey Mouse.
SOLDIERS' SETTLEMENT FARM
The entire family of Mum, Dad and eleven children eked out a meagre existence
on a settlement farm at Pashendale. A soldier’s settlement was a small parcel
of land allocated by the government to returned soldiers in recognition of
their contribution to Australia. It was a great idea, but impracticable. The
farms were too small to do anything with, apart from raising a few cattle,
pigs and a couple of sheep. During the great depression, burdened by
financial difficulties, many soldiers and their families simply had to walk
away from their farms to search for work in the city.
PERCY'S CRICKET TEAM
Although times were tough, Marjorie has many happy memories of growing up
with enough children to form a cricket team. “Pashendale is very hilly,” she
says. “We used to blow up a couple of car tyres and have races sliding down a
steep grassy hill.” However, the time on the farm was short-lived and the
family moved to a house in Merino. “At that time,” Marjorie says, “My
grandfather had a goldmining shed out of Ballarat. I wanted to go to the
toilet and he told me to go behind a tree.” Marjorie doubles up with laughter
when she says, “A little fox terrier dog bit me on the bottom. I wondered
what had struck me.” She shows me a mark on her wrist. "See this,"
she says. "When I went to primary school I was living in Ballarat with
crabby Auntie Gertie. One day I went to school with a lolly in my mouth and
the teacher whacked me with a ruler on the wrist. You should have seen it
swell. It was one time Auntie Gertie stood up for me. She really told that
teacher off.”
Marjorie also vividly
remembers the day her sixteen-year-old sister, Dorothy Pearl, died. They were
living in Casterton at the time and Dorothy's young man let her drive his
car. The wheels caught the gravel; the car spun out and overturned. He only
broke an arm, but Dorothy died from head injuries. Marjorie says, “She was
going to a ball that night and I remember her lovely white, silk and lace
party dress and pearl bag laid out on the bed where she had put them."
SECOND WORLD WAR
When Marjorie was sixteen, and had just started training as a nurse’s aid at
the Ballarat Base Hospital, the Second World War began. In 1940 she joined
the Women’s Australian Air Force (WAAF) and was based at Melbourne
University. The one part of her duties she really enjoyed was looking after
medical students. "They were just like my brothers, and I knew how to
keep them in their place," Marjorie says. She eventually completed her
training at the Prince Henry Hospital.
 SERGEANT MARJORIE
During her time with the WAAFs, Marjorie became a corporal and eventually
rose to acting-Sergeant. At one stage she was delighted to have one of her
brothers under her command, but her most important memories are of enduring
friendships, parties and fun with her mates. Young, intelligent and full of
life, the girls would catch a tram every chance they got, for a short ride to
the heart of the city. The teashops in the Royal Arcade were great meeting
places. They would drink coffee, chat and laugh as they watched the world go
by. Marjorie had a great war. It is fifty years since she was in the WAAFs
and every year on ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corp) commemoration
day she still meets her mates to reminisce about the experiences they shared
during those difficult years when Australia was at war.
TRAGEDY STRIKES AGAIN
It was at Prince Henry Hospital that she met the love of her life, Henry
Edward Tynan. They lived for each other, became engaged and planned their
wedding. One day, when he was driving home from Sydney, the wheels caught in
the gravel, the car spun out and crashed into a bridge. Marjorie felt that
life was repeating itself when, just like Dorothy Pearl, Henry died of head
injuries,
 POLIO EPIDEMIC
In the 1950's a polio epidemic hit Australia and Marjorie was sent to nurse
polio victims at the Ballarat Rehabilitation Hospital. She worked in the
children's wards caring for babies struck down by the terrible disease. To
try to strengthen and straighten their limbs she would put the baby into a
bath and exercise their joints in the water. These days polio has almost been
eradicated, but water therapy is still highly regarded; only now it is mainly
the elderly who exercise stiff limbs in hydrotherapy pools.
MAJORIE AND HARRY ELOPE
In 1955, when she was thirty-two, Marjorie met Harry Nash. Born on the Isle
of Dogs, England he jumped ship to come to Australia. She says, “He was a
merchant seaman. Totally handsome and always a good worker. He told me he was
looking for a good sort.” He obviously found one because they eloped and
married in Wesley church in Lonsdale Street, Melbourne.
MARRIED FORTY-SIX YEARS
They had been married forty-six years and had four children when one day he
arrived home unexpectedly and Marjorie knew something was very wrong. “His
face was as red as a turkey. I knew that he wasn't well and needed to see a
doctor. I tried so hard get him to go, but he refused. Instead, he went back
to his ship. Later that day they called to say he’d had an 'accident.' He’d
really had a stroke and was paralysed down one side. It changed his
personality. Over the following years sometimes I wished his tongue has been
paralysed as well.”
Harry died on ANZAC Day, 2002. Marjorie's family and many friends gathered
around to love and support her through this difficult time.
LIFE IS NOTHING WITHOUT FRIENDSHIP
 Arm
in arm Marjorie and her ninety-one year old sister, Myrtle Annie, face the
future. They may be getting older, but both look and act much younger than
their age. Marjorie in particular is very active, and as her daughters say,
"Mum's heart is bigger than her body. When we were growing up, she was
always helping anyone in need and it was nothing to come home and find some
one sleeping on the couch, or extra chairs pulled up to the table. She
fostered a boy for many years and took in a woman and her child because they
needed a roof over their head and a good square meal. She'll talk to anyone
on a bus or tram, bring them home with her, and they soon become part of the
furniture."
 Eighty
fruitful years is quite a milestone and Marjorie is an inspiration to us all.
Always busy, always happy she lives on her own, independent and proud of it.
Her Montmorency home is within walking distance of the family and she takes
great delight and pride in her four children and seven grandchildren. We all
wish her a very happy eightieth birthday.
WITH LOVE FROM THE FAMILY
KAREN: The thing I
admire most about Mum is that she is so outgoing and caring and makes friends
with anyone.
WENDY: Mum has an
irrepressible and infectious zest for life. It doesn't matter what physical
affliction she has she still goes out and enjoys every minute of her life.
But the thing I treasure most about Mum is that she has always been there for
me.
SHANE: She's MY Mum and
I'm proud of her.
SANDRA: Happy Birthday to
a great Mum.
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