In Loving Memory

A tribute to Mary Ann Boulton (nee Foskew)

My Grandmother passed away last night.

After more than a year of living with failing kidneys and a myriad of other health problems she is now at rest.

My Gran lived a remarkable life. No-one but her writer grandson will write her story. The world will not mourn her passing. No state funerals and public displays of grief for this lady.

Just family and friends both mourning her and relieved that she is no longer suffering.

My Gran was born in England, in Essex. I don’t know much about her early life.

I know that at some point during World War Two she and her school friends were going into the playground. She was pulled back by someone behind her. Outside a Nazi warplane strafed the kids as they ran into the playground.

At some point she worked as a servant in the local lords house. He curtsied to Princess Elizabeth once and said “My Lady” as she was taught. The young Elizabeth apparently replied, “I am not a lady, I am going to be the Queen.”

To which the Queen Mother replied, “You are a lady first and the Queen second.”

My Grandfather was a Scotsman. The story goes my Gran couldn’t understand him very much when he spoke because of his accent. So she would often just say yes and agree with him.

One day he asked her a question and not really understanding him, she said yes. That is how she agreed to marry him.

At some point Gran must have studied nursing because she was a Matron at a hospital before coming to Australia.

Gran, Grandad and their four children were ten pound Poms. The emigrated to Australia in 1965/66. Gran insisted on Perth because she had relatives in Adelaide that kept sending letter bitching about what other family members were doing. She didn’t want everyone back home knowing what she was doing.

In this foreign country, with four kids and her husband away working, my Gran had to buy land, get a house built and organise schooling and the like for the kids.

She had two more children in Australia, for a total of six kids. She also fostered children well over forty over the years. Many were kids with disabilities, particularly blindness. My uncle Mark is an Albino, so my Gran had a lot to do with the WA School for the Blind. She advocated, supported and did what she could for the blind community in Perth.

She was a Christian Spiritualist, believing that psychic powers were gifts from God. She could use a Ouji board to channel spirits, read tea leaves, and read tarot cards. I reckon she could do more beside, but I never knew much about that.

She was left wing in her politics, and believed Bob Hawke was one of Australia’s best Prime Ministers. She was a fervent believer in the Australian Fair Go, and cared about people.

Gran loved playing lawn bowls and played at some state level competitions. She collected blue and white china statues.

I remember one time she was kissed by Ernie Dingo, one of my Gran’s favourite Aussie actors. She told us all about that as if she was a teen fangirl. She was in her sixties when that happened.

Strong, fit and robust, my Gran was always active, knitting, sewing cooking, gardening. She did it all. She was the much loved matriarch of my family. She was a Supergran.

We will miss you Gran. Snoring in your armchair with your false teeth falling out. Your strong confident opinions. The way you cared for all of us, without molly-coddling. Your amazing food. Your irrepressible spirit and bloody-minded stubbornness.

I will meet you in the Halls of the Ancestors, Granny Boulton.