ODDIE, Marjory Agnes OAM

Marjory Agnes Vickers was born on the 14th of May 1924 in Rochester.  The middle child of seven, Marjory enjoyed a happy childhood, attending first Macarthur Street Primary School, then Ballarat High School.  From the ages of 16 to 20, she spent part of each weekend working as a volunteer at the Australian Comforts Fund Hostel (now Ludbrook House).  This consisted of making up to 60 beds and cooking for servicemen on leave.

Later, married to James Taylor Oddie with young children, Marjory managed to find time for the Skipton CWA.  As the children grew older, her attention turned to the mothers' clubs of both Skipton and Carranballac schools.

Marjory has been a member of the Skipton Red Cross for 50 years.  She has been secretary, president, regional president for the Midlands, regional representative in Melbourne, and secretary of the project team which rebuilt the Red Cross Centre in Drummond Street, Ballarat.  At 83 she was still a working member of the organization.

Alongside her Red Cros work, Marjory has also served as a Guide leader and was a divisional commissioner until 1983.  She was elected to Ripon Shire Council and became its first female president in 1987.  She was the first woman president of the Western Municipalities District Assembly (WMDA), a representative on the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) policy executive, and the first rural woman elected to the MAV general management committee.  She was a founding member of Beaufort Probuys in 1990 and president in 2004.

Marjory received the Red Cross distinguished service award in 1981 and also received a Red Cross service medal and bars for almost 50 years of service.  She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1993 for service to local government and the community.

Later in life Marjory was a volunteer cook at the Beaufort Daycare Centre and was on duty at least once a week with Anglicare Ballarat.  She was also heavily involved with the Christ Church in Skipton.

Marjory died on the 29th of July 2016 at the age of 92 peacefully at the Skipton Hospital.

She was cremated and her ashes collected by her family.