The Road Autumn 2020

NEVER TOO OLD
ALUMNI STORY
Bernadette (Bern) Wilson, née O’Toole, Class of 1957, was thrilled
to receive her first passport last June, just a few days before her 80th
birthday. She had a bucket list of places she has wanted to visit her
whole life, and with the help of her six grandchildren she is hoping to
travel to them in the next few years.
Bernadette was a day scholar at Sacred Heart College for four
years. She left when she was offered full-time employment at Faulls
Shoes in Ballarat. She worked there for the next two years while
being courted by her soon-to-be husband, Stan. The year after they
were married, Stan and Bern packed up their belongings from the
house they were renting in Humffray Street and moved to Mount
George in the lush hills outside Adelaide.
Together they had four children and then opened their home to
Stan’s orphaned nephew. “The house was always full. Lots of yelling,
some singing, but always laughter”, said Bern. As the children were
growing up, Stan continued his work as a mechanic at the local
garage and Bern split her time between the house and duties at Our
Lady of Rosary Catholic Church. Each year for the summer school
holidays, the family would pile into the car, with the caravan secured
to the back, and they would head out to Whyalla, but Bernadette
always yearned to be seeing new sights, further afield.
She dreamed of travelling to America, seeing the Statue of Liberty
in New York and the Hollywood sign in California. She wanted to
hear the bells ring at Notre Dame in Paris and smell the water of the
canals in Venice.
As so often happens, Bernadette found that once she had finished
raising her own children, she was called into service to assist with
her grandchildren. “When I was raising my children I could afford
to stay home and Stan worked. We didn’t have everything, but what
we needed we did. When my kids started having kids, with house
and car payments, plus everything else they needed help with, and
Grandma duty meant that I got to take them to and from school,
make lunches, do laundry and all the other things that might have
slipped through the cracks, and I loved every minute of it”, continued
Bern.
At her granddaughter’s 21st birthday party, Stan and Bernadette
were called up to the front. “It was a bit odd. I thought they were
going to ask us to do a speech or sing happy birthday, but instead
we got the birthday envelope”, said Bernadette. In addition to travel
vouchers, flight information and hotel coupons, they found their
passport forms filled out and ready to be signed. “The kids had all
gotten together and between them worked out where we would be
going for the next year. Our first trip was to Europe with Cathleen,
our eldest child. We spent almost eight weeks going from Germany
to Switzerland to just everywhere”.
“It was worth waiting for, and I can’t wait to see the rest”.
Bernadette Wilson nee O’Toole, Class of 1957,
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