VERNA Currie’s preparations to move house have re-kindled a few
old memories.
The process of packing up her belongings has turned up a few
objects in hiding — an ‘active at all ages’ volunteer award, old photos, text
and trinkets that hold fond recollections for the great-grandmother.
Ms
Currie’s history in the Swan Hill region is an illustrious one that has centred
itself around education and family.
Having attended Swan Hill Primary
School, she was a sport’s house captain at Swan Hill College where she also ran
the school’s social club.
Upon graduating, the young achiever moved to
Bendigo to take up a course at the Bendigo Teacher’s College.
Her first
posting as a new teacher was at Nyah West, which seemed a world away from Swan
Hill without public transport or a car of her own.
But she managed and
quickly grew to love everything about teaching at the primary school.
“I just
enjoyed the whole process of helping children learn the basics, the first time
they could read or tie their shoelaces,” she says.
“One time for pets’ day we
had a whole classroom full of animals — cats, dogs and horses waiting at the
door.
“In those days it was a lot of fun.”
During her career as a teacher
— which spanned more than 40 years — Ms Currie has taught at schools across the
district including Nyah West, Swan Hill and Woorinen South — the suburb she
settled into after marrying in 1952.
She has also taken part
in relief and emergency work for schools across the region, which she continued
until she officially retired from the workforce in 1994.
“It’s hard to get
out of your system,” she says.
“Then one day I decided it was time.”
Despite having retired almost 20 years ago, the former school teacher says
prominent residents in the local area still refer to her as ‘Mrs C’.
“That
gives me great pleasure to see that they’ve all achieved, and to think that I
helped them when they were young,” she says.
The long-time teacher has
achieved quite a bit herself.
Not long after her first child was born, she
walked past Woorinen South Primary School with her pram and noticed a group of
mothers sitting on the lawn and joined them.
The local mother’s club found
itself a new secretary, and later president, in Ms Currie, and for her the club
marked the beginning of a long list of volunteer work.
She took up a role in
the Victorian District Council of Mothers Club, who successfully pushed to have
ballet entered as a VCE subject at Victorian schools, something she takes pride
in.
As her four children were growing up she also involved herself with
whatever they were doing at the time, from Girl Guides and Brownies to highland
dancing and horse shows.
Twenty-two years ago this June, on the day man
first walked on the moon, Verna started the Woorinen South walking club.
Today it is one of only two walking clubs left in the district, and Ms
Currie says keeping active helps keep her healthy.
“I think it’s giving
people pleasure, exercise and company, and it does keep you young,” she
says.
“We always go out to a café afterwards, and if it’s someone’s birthday
we’ll have a cake.”
As the founder of the walking club and president of
Southern Mallee Older Adults Regional Network (SMOARN) she also organises many
social events and outings, and day trips throughout Victoria and New South
Wales.
She is currently organising a ‘come and try’ day for carpet bowls,
which she started playing in Swan Hill 15 years ago, to take place mid-March.
“I’ve always been an organiser,” she says.
“I think you’ve just got to
enjoy every day and make the most out of life.”
Luckily, Ms Currie has her
children and grandchildren to help co-ordinate her move to the new house — which
is a big job to do on your own.
She isn’t moving far, but her new home will
have a small garden that she can tend, and more room to entertain her family.
“It’s good to have them around, I see them a lot,” she says.
“I’m really
very lucky.”
