Scotch College

Remembering Margaret Healey

Margaret Healey was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1914, just before the outbreak of WW1. She trained as a nurse and met her husband, Colin, in 1939, when he was sick with chickenpox in Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham, Sussex. They fell deeply in love and remained so until Colin’s death 53 years later. Her eldest son, Tim, has written about her early life.

I first met Margaret and Colin at the end of 1964 when Colin took up his appointment as Principal of our great School, Scotch. I was indeed fortunate to be one of Margaret’s friends soon after their arrival, as my husband, John, was President of the OSCA and my sister, Betty, was also an early friend, as her husband, Sir Archibald Glenn, was Chairman of the College Council. We all loved Margaret, her friendliness, her intellect and her immediate involvement in the School. She was a brave young mother with five children, bringing three of them to start a new life in Melbourne. Joanna and Tim were overseas and in Sydney respectively. Kit, Tom and Lucy came with their parents. Lucy was a gorgeous child, adored by all on the Hill at Scotch, and welcomed warmly. I remember dear, kind Ken Field put butterflies on her pillow to welcome her; she was, I think, seven years old. She sometimes visited us in our holiday house at Mt Martha and made friends with our daughter and her friends.

Margaret helped with School activities, taking books to boarders in the sick bay, and helping with the different groups at the School. As our boys were more senior, she played a vital role in advising and encouraging. At the same time her own children were needing support and interest too. It was a busy life for her. We held some very enjoyable functions. I remember in particular the music scholarship fund auxiliary. We greatly enjoyed the gatherings to raise money for the scholarship fund. Margaret presided over our meetings and Mrs Logie Smith, whose husband, George, was Director of Music, was a friend too. We held our gatherings nearly always in private homes, charging ten shillings and six pence to attend and the mothers providing the food and refreshments.

Margaret always loved music and she loved books. She was an avid reader and could always be relied upon to give a ‘summing up’ of a book, or some information about the music she loved to listen to and loved to share.

My friendship with Margaret at Scotch was a very special one. One happy occasion to remember was the School Dance at Hawthorn Town Hall, all decorated with balloons, and happy, proud young people. No after-parties then. Why ever were they invented? Another occasion was a fete held at Scotch for the Appeal, when we served afternoon tea under the big cedar tree on the Hill. We had a silver tea service at a special table for the guests of honour, Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies, I think they were.

Margaret and Colin made many strong friendships at the School: Mr and Mrs Campbell, Mr Bowden, Mr and Mrs Logie Smith and, of course, Dr Bill Littlejohn and many others, including Alec Fraser and Archie Crow, the school chaplains. Our family friendship continued and flourished after Colin retired and when they lived at Mt Martha. We also had a house at Mt Martha and went to live there when my husband John’s eyesight was failing, and his health too was precarious.

Colin and Margaret, I am sure, enjoyed Mt Martha, making new friends, joining in community activities, helping others and enjoying local life. Colin always had a joke and said to me one day, ‘They call me Col’.

We lived about twenty minutes’ walk away from Colin and Margaret, a walk through a leafy lane, over to the sea, and across a busy road. Every Tuesday, Colin read to John, who by then had minimal vision. John walked to Colin accompanied by his faithful dog who waited and brought him home again. These afternoons were a highlight of our life at Mt Martha. John and Colin read and discussed many things and John always told me about Margaret’s delicious sandwiches.

All these years, of course, we heard with great interest about their children and grandchildren’s occupations and careers, a very gifted and diversified group. It was a great sadness when Colin died, and Margaret bravely picked up the reins and carried on.

No-one could be more loved by her family or have been more loving to her family. Lucy came and lived not far away, near Bittern, with her beloved writer Garry, and when their daughter, Hannah, was born, ten years ago, she brought untold joy to Margaret.

Margaret and I met every month with a group of old friends to have lunch and a discussion together. This group was christened the ‘play group’ by our hostess’s husband and we all enjoyed it very much. Margaret was a very much valued member, always interested in all our families and activities. She was interested in all our children and grandchildren, vitally interested, not only in the successful ones, but in the ones with difficulties.

Margaret became frail in the last months of her life, but she was given total love and care and watched over by her family who visited frequently. I know I witnessed the love and care she received from her friends at ‘play group’. I like to think she felt contentment and was never lonely.

Margaret has been one of my dearest friends for over forty years, and it was a very sad day when she died on 7 June 2005.

Margaret and Colin leave a totally devoted family, all of whom were at her service at St Peter’s Church in Mornington on Saturday, 11 June. All took part in some way. Bridget came from Japan and Charles from London.

Tom, who has been directing and teaching Music at Geelong Grammar School for twenty-five years, helped to arrange the service and played the organ in that beautiful church, uplifting our spirits, and helping us to remember our love for Margaret.

Tom and his wife, Helen, their son, Philip, and daughter, Bridget, sang the song they had sung to Margaret on her 90th birthday, just over a year before her death, in Lucy’s garden on a summer’s day. The song was, ‘Shine on me’. Let us all remember Colin and Margaret and what they meant to us.

BARBARA BLANCH
Hawthorn 2005