Shine - Anglican Retirement Villages

one Minute with
BEtty BRoWn
goWRiE ViLLAgE goRdon
Photo ALEx CRAig
My earliest memory is... biting
a little boy’s face after we had
moved to Coonabarabran, when
i was about three. i have no idea
why i did it. My mother bit my
arm so i would know how it felt!
When World War II broke out...
i was at my grandmother’s at
Lawson. My Mum said, “War
has been declared”. My first
reaction was, “Will dad have to
go?” When the war finished i
was working in o’Connell Street
in the city. the milkman’s horse
was getting upset as people
were throwing toilet paper out
of the windows to celebrate.
When I was young I wanted to
be… A nurse. i worked for the
Red Cross for 42 years as a
handicrafts teacher for disabled
people. i used to visit people in
their homes, and often i was the
only person, apart from their
family that they saw or could
talk to.
One of the things that has
changed the most over my
lifetime is… the use of the
telephone. We had a phone
where we lived in the country;
a party line. that was funny as
people would listen into your
conversation!
The coldest I have ever felt... was
on the railway station at Lithgow
at about midnight. We used to
catch the Mudgee mail train to
go back to Coonabarabran.
In the holidays we went to...
Port Macquarie. By that time
Mum and dad had moved to
Quirindi and we would go for
a beach holiday. i also used to
go to dad’s parents in the Blue
Mountains.
My first car was... a second hand
Austin A40, which i got when i
was about 28.
shine 31