65-year love affair got off to flying start

AROUND 50 people gathered at Kiamas Anglican Church last Wednesday to celebrate the life of the matriarch to one of Kiamas oldest families as 91-year-old Bessie East was laid to rest.

Described by her husband Bruce as an admirable, hardworking and very caring woman Mrs East began her love affair with Kiama in 1931 when her Bexley familys Buick broke down near the East family farm in Kiama during a Christmas holiday with her parents and five siblings.

Bessies father came down to my see my dad George to see if they could spend the night on the farm after their car broke down, said her husband Bruce East said.

They stayed that night and then for the rest of the holiday.

After discovering what a fantastic little place we had down there they came every year for holidays after that and the families became good friends especially after Bessie and I began courting.

As things between Bessie and Bruce became more serious the distance between the couple became more and more of a problem.

The trip from Kiama to Bexley by road took almost a day or four hours each way by train.

I used to get the 12:05pm train home from Sydney to Kiama and it would be so full you would have trouble finding a seat, he said.

It would stop at every station and by the time it got back to Kiama I would be the only one left.

I would only have enough time left to walk straight home and start work. No complaints though, thats just what you did when you were that age.

Described in the eulogy presented by Mrs Easts oldest nephew Peter Fuller as a very resourceful lad, Mr East soon went about finding a much quicker and easier alternative form of transport to get to Sydney.

The Sydney University had begun a gliding club up on Fred Weirs hill (along the Kiama bends) they built a big shed as part of their headquarters up there, he said.

The fellow who used to run the group was a Dr Hayden and he owned a great little Tiger Moth. They came down every fortnight and I had always had a great interest in flying so in between milking one afternoon I went up and had a look around.

I had a bit of a talk to the doctor and he was happy to let me fly with him so I used to jump in and fly up the coast.

It was a great way of getting there.

I have always said that you have never flown until you been in a Moth.

Bruce and Bessie East were married at the Bexley Presbyterian Church in 1940 before Mrs East made the move to the East family residence in Kiama.

Moving to the country came as a shock for Mrs East as the luxuries of the city such as sewerage, gas and electricity quickly became a distant memory.

I think living down here may have been a bit of a surprise to her at first but she definitely came to love the country very quickly, Mr East said.

She joined the CWA and she really enjoyed meeting people and before too long we started the caravan parks so she became quite busy very quickly.

Between 1942 and 1945 Mrs East gave birth to her their three sons Robert, Alan and Phillip.

My word we were busy, laughed Mr East.

But we were very, very happy. Bessie loved being a mother and she threw herself right into that but she also did a lot of work around the park.

In the daytime she used to look after all the kerosene, butter and soft drinks while also sorting out the mail and looking after the boys. At the end of the day we used to have set out at about midnight and go around and clean all the toilet blocks and showers. I have always said you are either a worker or your not and Bessie was definitely a worker.

Life only got busier over the next 10 years as both became heavily involved with the Kiama Primary and High Schools P&C committees while Mr Easts council commitments reached the point where he became Kiama Mayor in 1972.

Whatever she was involved in she gave it 100 percent, Mrs Easts son Phillip said.

She was always organising tea and biscuits for a function to do with the P&C, CWA, church or council. Then she would come home and we would go and clean up around the park. I can still see Mum doing the rounds around the park with her dress apron and her wellington boots on.

With the three sons beginning to take over the day-to-day running of the caravan park, Mr and Mrs East soon found more time to travel and during the mid 1970s they travelled right throughout NSW before embarking on a world tour in 1976.

Realising that the now burgeoning caravan park was in good hands the pair retired to the Victorian town of Bright in 1978.

We were always fond of Victoria, Mr East said.

I used to come back to Kiama once a month for meetings but apart from that we loved the 20 years we spent there.

The only reason we left was because we were getting on in years and Phillip thought it might be a good idea to move closer to medical facilities so I put the house on the market on the Monday and we headed down to a Phillips caravan park in Batemans Bay where we had a great little spot.

After celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary in 2000 and becoming a great grandmother for the first time, Mrs East had to endure the pain of seeing her son Robert lose his battle to cancer as her own health problems began to worsen.

Mum had some big problems with her hips and then her memory started to go as well. After she had been in hospital for a long while in the ACT and Batemans Bay we managed to get her into Blue Haven, said son Phillip.

At one stage the doctors gave her a week but like Robert she was a real fighter and she kept on rallying right up until she went.

Bruce East described the loss of his wife as having lost his best friend.

I cant find the words to explain how I feel about her but I am going to miss her terribly thats for sure. She was a very remarkable lady.