With Wendy Williamson
Different people, different lives…Everyone has a tale to tell. The residents of Prom Country House in Foster are no exception. Today we begin a new series in which Wendy Williamson sits down with a local aged care resident to hear something of their life. We begin with Marion Haupt.
One of Marion Haupt’s most prized possessions is a glossy book featuring stunning photographs of the Corner Inlet district emblazoned with the words “To our dear friend Marion - volunteer extraordinaire!”
Marion was presented with the book in thanks for her 20 plus years volunteering with the Prom Country Visitor Information Centre. She delighted in handing out brochures and telling visitors all about local tourism hotspots. She loved also the opportunity to tour the district with other volunteers and information officers, many of whom became good friends.
A stalwart of the local community, Marion is also known for her contribution to the Foster and District Historical Society, the Toora library and the South Gippsland Conservation Society at Inverloch.
Foster is a long way from where, as Marion Twentyman, she was born 93 years ago. Her childhood in Bradford, a centre of the woollen industry in northern England, was happy, but there wasn’t much money to go around. Her father had spent time as a prisoner of war in Singapore’s notorious Changi jail and returned from the Second World War minus a leg.
“He was a strong character,” says Marion. “I take after him!”
Her brother went to university and became a research chemist, but Marion’s father couldn’t afford to pay for tertiary studies for his daughter. She left school at 16 and learnt office skills until she was 18 and old enough to go nursing.
She had barely qualified as a nurse when in 1955 she gave birth to a son. A single mother, she was fortunate to have the support of her parents. She made use of her commercial skills with a job in the pathology office of Royal Bradford Infirmary.
In 1957 Marion married an engineer, Phillip Baron Tolson, and had a son with him in 1959. Phillip had spent time with the British Army in Palestine, where he loved the heat. To escape the cold of England, in 1963 he took the family to Australia, starting out at a migrant hostel in Preston.
To Marion, Australia was literally a breath of fresh air. “Bradford was full of soot, because of the coal mines. Melbourne was so clean in comparison!”
She found work as a nurse at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital and settled into government housing with her family. Phillip, however, could not settle so easily. Like so many men, he was scarred by his war experiences, his participation in the liberation of Belsen concentration camp, in particular. He was so haunted he became an alcoholic and took his own life after only a few years in Australia. Marion was just 36.
With no family but a good network of friends and some understanding managers, Marion continued at Heidelberg Repat doing shift work, which allowed her to care for her sons. There was little time available for leisure, but she joined Parents Without Partners and met the man who was to become, by her reckoning, the love of her life.
It was through Karl Heinz Haupt that Marion discovered South Gippsland. He owned a block of land at Mt Best and together they built a unit there. Sadly, their time together was only brief, as Karl succumbed to lung cancer after only seven years with Marion. She stayed on at Mt Best, however, for another 15 or so years.
“There’s a great community there, including a residents’ association with regular social occasions.”
Marion’s sons grew increasingly worried about their mother confronting wildlife on the road down the mountain to Toora, where she nursed at the hospital. They eventually persuaded her to move into Foster. She successfully applied for a unit at Linton Court and lived there for many years, only moving to Prom Country House a couple of years ago, when she needed extra care.
There she has a sunny room looking out over a flower-filled courtyard. She can’t move like she used to, but she manages to attend exercise class twice a week and is a keen reader. Her family has grown to include four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, scattered around Bendigo and Melbourne, and she is always up for a chat with the various friends she has made from her long and enthusiastic participation in community life.
