{"id":1201,"date":"2021-05-03T22:18:36","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T12:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2021-05-03T22:18:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T12:18:38","slug":"edith-betty-ridge-our-mum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/edith-betty-ridge-our-mum\/","title":{"rendered":"Edith Betty Ridge: Our Mum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the eulogy my sister Alison gave for our mother at her funeral today. It is a word-perfect honoring of Mum’s long life. You can watch the video of the slideshow<\/a> I made for the service on YouTube.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edith Betty\nRidge, nee Dykes, was born on May 8th 1928 in Enfield. She was the first born\nchild and only daughter to Stanley and Grace and lived at home in Russell Lea\nuntil her marriage. Her brother Ronald “Ronnie” was born in 1931.\nMum’s childhood was happy and carefree. Despite growing up through the\ndepression years her family were comfortable as Stanley, Pa Pa to his\ngrandchildren, remained in employment as a clerk with the Gas Company. Pa Pa\nwas at the Gallipoli landings and his war service combined with his personality\ncould make him prickly. This was balanced though by the gentle and loving\nnature of Grandma with whom Mum shared a very close relationship. Mum would\nalways buy her Mother bunches of violets when they were in season. Mum also had\na close and loving relationship with both of her Grandmothers and her Aunty\nGlad, Grace’s sister, and her husband Uncle Herb. Sadly, she had no memory of\nher Grandfathers. Her cousin Tom Treseder was extremely special to her. Mum and\nRon were always great friends despite the fact that he could be a typically\nannoying younger brother. With her oldest friend Olwyn, Mum and Ron formed\ntheir own secret club known as The Gumnut Club, complete with passwords,\ncertificates and minutes kept by Madame President which Mr Treasurer was to\nread. Mr Treasurer preferred to be pulling the wings off cicadas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family\nholidays and car trips to the beach and The Blue Mountains with friends were a\nregular occurrence, and one very special trip to Tasmania brought about a\nlifetime of wonderful memories. The family had a gorgeous red setter called\nDookie who was adored adored and he gave Mum enormous joy. Growing up we heard\nso many stories about Dookie, it was almost as if we also knew him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum\nattended school at Russell Lea Infants, Drummoyne Public and then Fort St Girls\nHigh where she told me she read every book in the library and would then go to\nthe City Library after school. Mum was an extremely intelligent woman, but\nsadly her brain was, as my sister Judy succinctly described it, untrained. The\nHeadmistress at Fort St was a Maths teacher and as Mum was not mathematically\ninclined she was placed in 4D despite good results in the Intermediate\nCertificate. Mum excelled in English and she enjoyed French and Latin, but\ncould not pursue these in 4D. So she decided that she wanted to leave school.\nPaPa said if you get a job you can leave. Mum being Mum, head strong and\ndetermined, did just that. In 1944 she immediately gained employment as a punch\ncard operator with the Sydney County Council and she remained there until\nher marriage 10 years later. Mum enjoyed her working life, and as a young woman\nstepped out socially with friends to the theatre, concerts and movies. She was\nan excellent knitter and dressmaker, and completed beautiful embroidery. Mum\nattended elocution classes with Miss Pilsbury and acted in a few plays, one of\nwhich saw her take top billing over the late Ruth Cracknell!!  Mum was\nalways complimented on the beautiful way that she read, particularly scripture\nreadings. She attributed this to reading stories to her children, but no doubt\nthe elocution classes were a factor also.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was a\nmember of the Drummoyne Methodist Church and socialised with her friends there\nwith picnics, playing tennis and “socials”. She scored at baseball\ngames and looked after all the player\u2019s watches, wearing them up her arm! She\nloved being a member of the Methodist Crusader Choir and performing in the\nSydney Town Hall was always a big event. Crusader Camps were always a lot of\nfun. Mum was an excellent flower arranger and adored flowers. In recent times I\nswear that Mum spent more on flowers every week than she did on food! But they\nalways brought her enormous joy and the home was always beautiful and\nwelcoming. She was an avid crossworder, and her day did not begin until she had\nstarted the crossword in the Sydney Morning Herald. Up until her eyesight\nfailed her in February\/ March, she was still completing the crosswords. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum was a\ngood cook but I don’t think she particularly enjoyed cooking. It was tiresome\ntrying to think of interesting food to prepare for 4 ratty kids in the 70’s!\nShe did become quite modern and creative with Rice a Riso and a mince cabbage\ndish called Kye Si Min which we loved. Sunday roast dinners were special,\nmacaroni cheese and chicken of the sea were family favourites and we loved her\nmocha cake particularly. Dave fell in love with Linda over mocha cake! Mum was\nable to move with the times becoming quite computer literate, and having an I\npad has been her way to stay engaged and connected to the world via Facebook\nand emails. Unfortunately she also mastered the art of online shopping….. Sigh!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the\ntopic of shopping, Mum loved to shop!! She loved beautiful things be it pretty\nchina, interesting pieces, jewellery, books, & music. As you all know she\nwas always beautifully dressed with matching accessories. As a young woman she\nhad immaculate taste and style. Over the years it has been a running source of\nfamily indignation that she was a shopaholic but she didn’t care! I would often\nquip that she was spending my inheritance to which she would reply,\n“That’s right”!! The last time we were in a shopping centre Mum\npicked up the latest Prouds catalogue & proceeded to pick out the items she\nwas interested in. In the family we joked about \u201cMother\u2019s millions\u201d, her\njewellery collection. Mum could be quite inappropriate at times, much to Dad’s\ndismay, and like her Dad she could be prickly. She was human. Mum had the most\nincredible and long memory. She had an amazing ability to recall names, places,\ndates. She could tell you where she purchased a dress, how much it cost, who\nwas with her when she bought it and where she wore it! As I have been piecing\ntogether family history in recent years her wonderful memory was invaluable.\nMum also had the most infuriating but endearing ability to tell a story. She\nwould take you all around the world and there would be a cast of thousands in\nit, the relevance which was often a puzzle to us. Dad would say “Edith,\nget to the point” and she would retort “Oh Barry, do be quiet”.\nShe would then happily continue on with her tale, gaily ignoring Dad, but she\nalways came back to the point!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum made\nfriends wherever she went, and once you were her friend you were her friend for\nlife. Over the years she lost Olwyn, Elizabeth, Joan, Joy, Vonnie but their\nmemories live on. Weekly chats with Norma continued until the very end, and\nKatie and Barbara, Lyn and Sue, Anne & Laurie, Judith & Jan, Christo\nand \u201cmy friend Pamela\u201d have remained in constant contact. Friends made in more\nrecent times have been a source of encouragement and support and she was so\ngrateful for this. Her cleaner from Just Better Care, Grace, was very good to\nMum and Mum was very fond of her. There have been many beautiful messages of\nlove and support on Facebook, and people have been sharing special memories\n& thanking Mum. The word gracious was used frequently. We were particularly\ntouched by several posts where people thanked Mum for the support and\nencouragement she extended to them after they emigrated to Australia. Thank you\nto all of you, so many and I don’t want to forget anyone, but you know who you\nare. Special thanks must go to Professor Ray Sacks, Dr Lena Reichardt, Dr Mark\nFitzmaurice, the radiation oncology team at RNSH in particular Dr DJ, Dr Lisa\nParker, and CNC Paula McLeod. Rev David Reichardt and Rev Bill Ives. Deepest\ngratitude to the staff at Bowden Brae nursing home who tended to Mum in her\nfinal weeks including the chaplains Tennyson & Frank. Extra special thanks\nto all the nursing, medical, auxiliary staff at Neringah Palliative Care\nHospital & their community outreach team. Jo Manouk, pastoral carer, thank\nyou so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum’s faith\nhas been at the very core of who she is and what she stood for. When she was 14\nshe became a member of the Methodist Girls Comradeship and at the age of 16 she\nwas taking Sunday School classes. Her lifelong journey of service all\nprogressed from there. Her biodata (hold it up) reads like a Tolstoy novel and\nif I was to mention every committee served on, position held, job taken on,\nservices conducted we would be here all day. Mum summed it up in one of the\nmany talks she gave – she served 36 years in country and city circuits\/parishes\nand was the leader of 36 fellowship groups. She served at Synod and Assembly\nlevel, district and national level. She was the President of Australian Church\nWomen in both the ACT and NSW and is a Life Member, an honour of which she was\naptly very proud. Retirement didn’t slow her down – what retirement? She was as\nbusy as ever with various women’s groups, Uniting Church Adult Fellowship of\nwhich she was also a life member , Synod Committees and editor of several\nnewsettes\/handbooks. Australian Church Women and The Fellowship of the Least\nCoin were very dear to Mum and there is a collection box outside if you would\nlike to make a donation to The Fellowship of the Least Coin. Due to illness and\nthen Covid19 Mum was unable to attend church for some time, and this was a\nsource of distress to her. Thank you to the Normanhurst Uniting Church\ncommunity for faithfully and lovingly staying in touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum’s life\nchanged when she made the move to Five Dock Methodist Church and commenced\nteaching Sunday School there. It was 1950. George Ridge, the Sunday School\nSuperintendent, spotted her and immediately decided that she was the girl for\nhis son Barry, who was serving as a probationary minister in the North West\nMission, based at Boggabri. What a fantastic match maker Grandad turned out to\nbe!! Edith and Barry met, fell in love, and the rest as they say is history!!\nThey were married at Five Dock Methodist Church on December 4 1954 by the Rev\nC.L Connor, after a terrific thunder storm saw the beautiful bride unable to\nleave the house, making Dad an extremely anxious groom in waiting. Honeymoon\nspent at beautiful Jervis Bay, and then the newly married couple set off for\ntheir first appointment to Milton. Not before Mum had all of her teeth pulled\nin one sitting, as per the recommendation at the time due to a lack of country\ndentists. Mum & Dad were welcomed to Milton with a lovely afternoon tea\nspread of cheese and tomato on Sao biscuits. Poor Mum. You could say she gave\nher teeth for the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was\nno training to become a Minister’s wife and Mum learnt as she went along. She\nwas well supported by the older Minister’s wives, and as a couple Mum and Dad\nreceived loving Christian support from Rev Connor & his wife, Dr\nGeorge Wheen and the Rev Stanley Bowyer Hayward (Principal of Leigh College\nwhere Dad studied) & his wife Kathy. After Milton they went to Gunning,\nToronto, Katoomba, Auburn, Yarralumla in the ACT and finally Homebush-Strathfield.\nMum and Dad were an awesome team and served the church faithfully. Mum learnt\nto make do with parsonage furniture and she shared Dad without complaint with\nthe people and places that needed him. There were hard years, and\ndisappointments along the way. God\u2019s lemon drops are everywhere. However, there\nwere also many, many fun times. Mum could do a wicked Nana Moskouri\nimpersonation and she rather enjoyed some of Meatloaf\u2019s music (whom she\nfamously called Meatball!) When she wagged the finger or threatened to knock\nour heads together we knew we were in trouble or would soon be if we didn’t tow\nthe line. Mum battled several major health issues over the years, but always\ncame out on top until the final illness. Her strength of character and\ndetermination were incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum &\nDad were married for 62 years and were devoted to one another. Mum loved &\nrespected Violet & George, her in laws deeply, and they always referred to\nher as their daughter & she called them Mum & Dad. Mum told me that she\nhit the jackpot when she married into the Ridge family, and she was loved in\nreturn by members of the extended family. Linda was born in 1956, David in\n1959, myself in 1961 and Judith rounded off the family in 1964. We had several\ncats, 2 rabbits, fish and 2 budgies in the family at various times. We had\nwonderful holidays at our holiday home at MacMasters Beach, the deposit on\nwhich was supplied by Mum’s long service leave pay out. We watched family TV\nshows such as The Bobby Limb Show, Bandstand, Seekers specials, Happy Days\n& Countdown and ate saucepan cooked popcorn. We also watched Division 4\n& Homicide! Surprising, I know! Mum famously said \u201cNo swearing in my\nkitchen\u201d in response to some very tame swear words that were said on these\nprograms. We saw live shows such as Godspell & Jesus Christ Superstar and\nwent to lots of movies. We were not a wealthy family in money terms, but in\nevery other way we were millionaires. One of my favourite memories growing up\nwas sitting at the dinner table and talking about our individual day. Mum was\nalways engaged and interested in our lives, our friends, our interests and\nour thoughts on the world. She loved us unconditionally and was always\nsupportive, allowing us to make mistakes without judgement. Her standard\ngreeting was always \u201cHello love” and these were the last words she spoke\nto me. Mum was surprisingly open minded and forward thinking for a woman of her\ngeneration and background. She believed firmly in women’s rights and had a very\nstrong sense of social justice. She welcomed and loved our respective partners\n– Dave, Pauline and Bernard and made strong friendships with their respective\nfamilies. Mum was a loving aunt to Margot & Wayne, and Elizabeth, and to Ron\u2019s\nstepson Paul and his wife Liz and their children. It brought her so much joy\nwhen Margot reconnected with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adored\ngrandchildren came along and Mum couldn’t have been a more wonderful\ngrandmother if she tried. She played soccer with Peter which coined the\ninfamous saying \u201cPeter kicks, Grandma runs!It never ceased to amaze me how my\nchildren could get away with anything with Grandma – things she would not have\naccepted from me! Peter & Emelia, Heather & Cliff, Alice & Keaton,\nEmily, Lucy, James & Alex and Grace and Glen. Grandma was so proud of all\nof you and watched you grow and make your way in the world with deep\nsatisfaction. She was keenly interested in all that you did and did her best to\nbe there for you as much as possible. Thank you for your phone calls and\nvisits, Mum was so grateful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just when\nwe thought our lives couldn’t get any better along came the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me\nfor Mum – the Great Grandchildren! Move out of the way everyone else. Nothing\ncould compare to Bennett, Isaac and Zarahlinda! Boy, was she one besotted Great\nGrandma. She lapped up every snippet of information about them that came via\nFacebook or phone calls, and loved every photo and video. When she was able to\nspend time with them in person either in Coffs Harbour or when they came to\nSydney it was a really joyous occasion. Ben, Zaccy & Zara know that Great\nGrandma loved you very, very much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum faced her\nillness bravely with dignity and grace. She never said ” Why me?” She\nwanted to know exactly what would happen and she accepted it. Mum wasn’t ready\nto die; she had so much to live for. She had purchased a lovely outfit to wear\nas Grandmother of the bride for whichever of her Grandchildren was going to\nmake the next trip down the aisle. But her faith saw her slip away quietly and\npeacefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mum had a\nvery distinctive walk – she could really stride it out with vigour in her\nyounger years. You knew the sound of her footsteps before you saw her. I\nimagine that she strode home to God with delight and all the energy of the 16\nyear old Sunday School teacher. She is now resting in the Peace that surpasses\nall understanding and her earthly struggles are no more. To quote Dr George\nWheen in a letter he wrote to her – \u201cA little faith will bring you to heaven,\nbut a great faith will bring Heaven to you.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sleep well,\nour darling mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the eulogy my sister Alison gave for our mother at her funeral today. It is a word-perfect honoring of Mum’s long life. You can watch the video of the slideshow I made for the service on YouTube. Edith … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misrule","category-misrulepersonal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1201"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1208,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions\/1208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/misrule.com.au\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}