Nana....Elsie

“Elsie”  …....Nana

“Don’t bring THAT Catholic girl into this house! I will not come downstairs if you do!”  exclaimed a very flushed Elsie shaking her finger at her rascal of a son Jack.

Elsie was small in stature but the way she carried herself, the impeccable way she dressed, her winning smile and the grand way she entered a room made her a figure to be reckoned with. She was larger than life and always looking for a way to end up on top of a situation.

Which of the many stories and images could I tell to convey the impressions I have of my Nana 42 years after her death? Whether it is the vivid retelling of the colorful stories or my hazy infant memory, but I do remember staying with Nana and Pa in their big house on the pineapple plantation in Queensland Australia.

George and Elsie had a large property and required help during the Second World War because of conscription. They were assigned two Italian prisoners of war to help them.  However, they had a warm relationship with the interns. It does sound fitting with the convict heritage of Australia. I also travelled down from Cairns to Brisbane at the time of my brother’s 21st birthday, and my current girl-friend Carmel was in town as well. My mother said Nana told her “Teddy could not be serious; she is a “tyke” isn’t she?”. It is ironic that her great grandson married a Catholic Italian girl in a fairy-tale wedding in a hill town in Piedmonte, ITALY.

My mother still tells stories of Elsie entertaining the “Yanks” in her house with parties and card games into the night. Of course the Americans, who were stationed in a huge camp nearby because of the Battle of the Coral sea, would bring food and liquor. All of which was contraband, kind of like “ Mash”. Elsie loved to entertain and be the center of attention.

Then there was the time that Mum and Dad were out searching for a business opportunity and left my rambuctious brother Jeff and me with them for a week. We must have been small, probably I was 4 and my brother was 5. There was a colorful rocking horse under the house. All houses are built on high posts to allow the breeze through the building. Jeff and I were fooling around on the horse and somehow it toppled over and fell on Jeff. Pa heard the crash, and came down and grabbed Jeff giving him a spanking with his belt. Only afterwards did Nana find out that Jeff had broken his collarbone. You can imagine the scene when our mother arrived back and found out about the “mistreatment” of her darling boys....we deserved it.

Well, then there was George, Pa. A big proud man who loved the horses and hunting wild fowl with his beloved black Labs. They were deeply in love but the fights were notorious. Elsie had high blood pressure and would get so excited that she would pass out. We also stayed with them on another occasion when they ran a small Hotel at Apple Tree Creek with colourful incidents of snakes in the outside “dunny” and in the local creek where we played.

They both passed away in 1969. Soon after Nana died, Pa went into a deep depression and we all say he died of a broken heart. They had a good life together and raised a close knit family, with lots of bumps along the way, and are lovingly remembered by their descendents.

By the way, Jack did marry “That Girl” and Nana did go to the wedding, swearing up to the last minute that she would not go the the Catholic church. Jack had four lovely daughter and was happily married, with the lovely Dympna caring for him during a long painful illness before his death.