FITHALL, Maureen

Maureen Godfrey was born on the 9th May 1930 in Melbourne to William Herbert Godfrey and Daisy Ferries.  Maureen didn't have a middle name so she took on Ursula who was her favorite aunty as her confirmation name.  Maureen was the oldest sister to Brian and Frank.  

For reasons the family have never been able to discover, when they were very young there was a breakdown in the family and the children were separated from each other.  Maureen spent sometime at the orphanage in Abbotsford, in Melbourne and was then taken in by the Froud family who lived in Turner Street Collingwood opposite Victoria Park.  As there son Fred played for Collingwood the players would often congregate at the Froud's house after matches for a sing-a-long around the family piano.  Maureen would often comment that they knew how to party.

Maureen commenced her education at St Joseph's in Northcote.  The family re-united when she was 10 and her father was transfered to Ballarat with his job at the Railway's.  Maureen continued her education at St Columbas Primary School in Ballarat North until the end of Grade 8.  She was awarded a scholarship from Sacred Heart College, Ballarat East, so thankfully she could continue her education and not have to work in the mill, which is were many girls ended up.

Maureen was a very diligent student and later in life when her three daughters also attended Sacred Heart College they were constantly reminded that they were not as good as their mother !!!  Maureen was very grateful for the education she received from the Mercy nuns, it gave her a lifelong love of learning, of music, and of art and she ensured that she gave her children as much exposure to these as well.  

In Maureen's teenage years she played netball, softball and sailed on Lake Wendouree with the Ballarat Yacht Club.  She also spent alot of time at the Lake View hotel, not drinking but because the parents of her best friend owned the establishment at the time.  After Maureen completed her matriculation she wanted to become a teacher.  She spent a year or 2 in a school based practical training program prior to attending Teachers College in 1949.  It was here that Maureen met Grahame.  He wasn't much for tanned girls but due to Maureen being involved in so many outdoor sports and spending summers at Fairhaven she was very brown and so came to Grahame's attention for all the wrong reasons.  However, a courtship blossomed.

Maureen and Grahame were married in December 1951 and wasted no time starting a family.  Over the next 14 years they produced 8 children.  Chris, Jill, Rosemary, Tim, Andrew, Barb, David (Dec.) and Anne. During this time Grahame's teaching job meant the family moved frequently; Berrybank, St Arnaud, Woodleigh, Charlton and Numurkah and back to Ballarat in January 1967.  With money being in short supply, and with married women not being allowed to work, Grahame worked 3 jobs thus accommodating for all his children to be able to attend private schools.  Maureen would attend school functions, sports days, work in the school tuck shop and drive car loads of kids to the pool for school swimming lessons.  

Maureen also made time for herself, she would attend book club, evening classes to learn Italian and German and continued her affiliation with Sacred Heart College through The Old Collegians Association.  Maureen's children could always tell when an Old Collegians function was on as she would have a pavlova made and sitting on her dressing table ready to take with her.

Maureen resumed her teaching career when her youngest child Anne commenced school, applying for emergency teaching and eventually getting permanent work at Mary's Mount junior school and then Loreto College, Dawson Street where she taught Year 7 and 8.  Maureen truly loved this job and made many friends among the teachers, she also loved the girls she taught "her girls" became a familiar catch cry and she wasn't referring to her daughters.  In winter, Saturday mornings were taken up with coaching and umpiring the Loreto Netball teams, and not watching her own daughters play softball and basketball.

One of Maureen's daughters was a midwife and when Maureen would read the birth notices in the local Ballarat Paper she would often highlight all the ones of the girls she taught and would want her daugher to say 'hello' to them for her.  When the message was past on they would reply 'oh, I loved your Mum, she was a great teacher, or she was  my favorite teacher."

Maureen would spend her Saturday afternoons in winter ironing with the radio on listening to the football, she had an exercise book ruled up and would mark down who kicked goals, behinds and whether or not they hit the post in each quarter.  In summer a similar event would occur but this time with the cricket.

Maureen retired from teaching at Loreto when she was 58.  After Grahame died in 1996 Maureen took up volunteering at the Ballarat Art Gallery as a guide.  She loved this role and she was well researched so that she could conidently educate the visitors. Maureen always did the best in everything she did, she was a stickler for grammar and spelling.  Maureen loved her friends, many of whom she had been friends with from her school days.  She enjoyed catching up with them regularly, either for lunch or on the phone.

Maureen loved her family and did as much as she could for them.  She enjoyed their achievements whether big or small and as mothers do would worry about her family.  She would say she was lucky to have us in her life.  Her family say they were lucky to have her in their lives.

Maureen died peacefully at St John of God Hospital, Ballarat on the 4th June 2017 and is buried with her beloved Grahame at the Ballarat New Cemetery Lawn H Row 10 Grave 16.