Summer 2019

Nancy Wake,
Real Life Wonder Woman
From the BBC News
Obituary in August
2011:
Nancy Wake, the
French Resistance
fighter who
became Australia’s
most decorated
World War
II heroine, has
died in a London
hospital at the
age of 98.
Born in New Zealand and raised in
Sydney, Ms Wake was nicknamed
“The White Mouse” by the Gestapo
because she was so hard to capture.
She is regarded as a heroine in
France, which decorated her with
its highest honour, the Legion
d’Honneur, as well as three Croix
de Guerre and a French Resistance
Medal.
Ms Wake left Australia and moved
to France in 1932, joining the Resistance
after the German invasion in
1940 and helping shelter displaced
Jews fleeing the Nazi regime.
Confirming Ms Wake’s death today,
New Zealand’s veterans’ affairs
minister Judith Collins hailed her as
a woman of exceptional courage
and tenacity.
Family friend Les Partell said Ms
Wake was one of the world’s greatest
women and had a knack for
survival.
“Anyone else would have got
knocked off left, right and centre,”
he said.
“She was just so good at what she
did. She survived. She more than
survived, she personified survival.”
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Credited with helping to save thousands
of lives, Ms Wake was placed
at the top of the Gestapo’s most
wanted list and fled France for England
on the advice of her husband
Henri Fiocca in 1943.
“Henri said, ‘You have to leave’, and
I remember going out the door saying
I’d do some shopping, that I’d
be back soon. And I left and I never
saw him again.”
Trained as a spy by Britain’s Special
Operations Executive, she then
returned to Nazi-occupied France to
work with the Resistance in preparation
for the D-Day landings in
Normandy in June 1944.
Parachuted back into France, Ms
Wake’s job was to distribute weapons
among Resistance fighters hiding
in the mountains.
“In those days it was safer, or a
woman had more chance than a
man, to get around, because the
Germans were taking men out just
like that.”
To arrange the delivery of weapons
and other supplies, messages had
to be sent via radio phones.
Ms Wake’s group lost theirs during a
raid by German troops.
This disastrous loss meant Ms Wake
had to pedal more than 200km to
another radio operator.
“The blokes didn’t think I’d ever get
back. I only volunteered for it not
because I’m brave but because I
was the only one who could do it,
being a woman.
“I got back and they said “How are
you?” I cried. I couldn’t stand up,
I couldn’t sit down. I couldn’t do
anything. I just cried.”
She had lived in London since 2001.
Greetings!
In the last newsletter, I mentioned
my background in the industrial
supply business. Now that I am fully
engaged in the operations of this
nursery, I have spent a good deal of
time considering the differences in
the two industries and how much of
the strategies we developed in the
supply business could be incorporated
into the nursery business.
There are some obvious differences
between selling plant material and
saw blades. Consistency of product
is much more of a challenge when
it comes to plants. But there are
some things that are very similar
between the two businesses.
One similarity is the customer’s
appreciation for a vendor who can
solve their problems and make their
jobs easier. I am certain that if we
can consistently deliver quality on
time and avoid surprises, we can
make a positive impact on the lives
and people that we touch.
One area we’ve been really working
on lately is becoming a better
source for trees. The way I see it,
when you are able to get more from
a single vendor, you will save on
administrative costs and generally
make your life easier. If you’re
already buying your shrubs and
ground cover from a single source,
you would likely appreciate the option
of buying more from the same
reliable source if you could get
quality, consistency and competetive
pricing.
We’ve recently made some
changes in our operations with
this goal in mind. I have brought
in Janet Hall to represent us at
nurseries throughout the state,
tagging material that meets our
standards so that when we deliver
your weeping yaupon tree to your
jobsite, you can be assured that it
will be exactly as it is described.
We’ve also brought in a veteran
of the tree business, my brother
Scott Curry, to make sure our tree
pricing is always in line with the
market.
In addition, we are now working
with specialty freight companies
to shave costs in situations where
going with a shipper saves money
over using our own trucks.
Every day offers new opportunities
to improve our process. I’d love to
hear from you about what you’d
like to see us do to make your job
easier and your business more
successful!
Take Care,
Gabriel Curry
President
G&S Nursery
386 754-0161
gabriel@gsnursery.com
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