Beverly's Career, Marriage & Children (18-30)

Hey mum, how are you? I'm well, thank you. You're doing well. That's good. It's nice to have you here in Bali. Absolutely. I'm very happy to be in Bali. We're sitting in your two-bedroom apartment and it's a beautiful day. Yes. We've had our coffee and life's pretty good. It is. I had a lovely breakfast. That's fantastic. So what I wanted to ask you is, we talked a little bit about your childhood and then you decide that you want to teach as a profession and go to university. And so paint a bit of a picture for me in terms of you're moving to Perth, you're starting your university, you've got to sort your living situation out. Talk me through that time where you were transitioning from Albany to Perth. Okay. So it was actually quite a big move because, you know, most people didn't believe Albany so I was coming up to the unknown really. I did have one girlfriend who had come up and done nursing but with the nurses, they lived in nursing quarters. Got it. So it made life a lot easier for them. Yes. But we're able to find it. I'm not sure how we found this but we found a lovely place to stay in Lock Street in Claremont and I could just walk over the railway line and up to it because I was at Claremont which is now Moorhead. And were you living there by yourself? No. In this house. So this was a farming couple, retired. They had a daughter, Louise, whose husband lived on farms and a son who had also was doing teaching. Yes. So in fact, he graduated so he was teaching at that time, just I think. And two other guys lived there, very nice people. So yes, so I just did with them and they provided for board. I know not lunch, it's breakfast and the nice just by lunch at college. So college in those days was pretty full on but I made some really good friends. Okay. A couple of, I did work. So this is teaching college? This is teaching college. Yes. So I made a really nice little worker friend and I used to catch up with Angela at times who was my nursing friend. Yes. But, and my cousin too, she was from dad's side of the family. She was like a second cousin, was also at the college so it was a bit nice to have a familiar face and she's gone to Albany High. Oh, okay. So it was quite nice. Oh, when I first moved into this house, I shared a sleep out that had bunk beds and a normal bed and two of the girls who lived there were farmers people from Papal down south. So one was a mature age student and the other was the same age as me but they didn't stay at all. They were in there for about three months and then they left and then I had to move to a sub which is more. Yes. Yes. Yes. But that was what happened in those days. People bunked in. Okay. Yeah. That was common. Yes. And so you were living in this place in Glenmont? Yes. And then you were studying teaching at the university? Raylands. Raylands. Raylands Teachers College. And did you have any work at that time? No. No. No. Okay. It was pretty put on. Yes. And I was on a ... We got paid by the government because your kids got living away from home in there. So on top of the accommodation, you had a little bit of money coming in from that? Yes. Yes. So we're paid from the accommodation and I still had some spending money. Had some spending money. Yes. And so what else was your day-to-day life like in terms of socially at that time? Or what was ... Did you do on the weekends? What did you sort of ... It's really hard to remember. I did socialise with a couple of friends that I had. Yes. So we would go ... But I was quite close to Glenmont. Yes. So I was ... Glenmont one side, Babby Terrace was just down the road. So we used to meet up in pubs there sometimes. The Glenmont Hotel was right there on the corner. So we used to go there and have breakfast and do that. The Lock Street Station was right there so I could catch the train down to Fremantle and into Perth. So yeah, that was basically ... And studying, catching up on stuff and ... People would come up from Albany and catch up with me. Right. Go home every holidays. Yes. So I was pretty busy. I can't ever remember standing still and being bored. Okay. At some stage later down the track, there was this momentous occasion where you, for the first time, were introduced to a man named Leslie John Forbes. Okay. Okay. Now, how old were you and what were the circumstances that you first met him? All right. So after my first year boarding with these people, I went home to Albany and I decided I wasn't going back. Oh, okay. So my girlfriend Marie, who was working in Perth, and I decided to put a flat together in both of the streets in the city. In Perth? Yeah, in Perth. So you decided you were going back to ... State board with these people. Okay, got it. Yeah. So Marie and I shared this flat. Now Marie's older brother Tony and his sister-in-law, Ina, lived in the flat upstairs. So they sort of kept an eye on us so that made mum and dad happy. Yes. So Marie lived below them at a flat and so Marie had gone in right at the beginning of January. I had to go in until uni started, which was a six-week break. Second year. Second year. Yeah. And so she had established herself there and had gone up to the YCW, which was just down the road. YCW. Young Christian Student. Got it. Yes. Or workers. YCW. Yeah, workers. Which was a very social organization within the Catholic Church and she met Tony Norris. Okay. And so she became very interested in that for weeks. And so when I came, he was very proud of Perth. He was coming and going. There wasn't anything romantic there. He was just the lovely Tony that we know. Yes. Just very friendly. You're saying that, yes. Yes. And he said, oh, you've got to come and join in some of our activities. He said, we've got one coming up. It's a gaming lodge up in the hall. The church hall. You've got to come. So Murray and I trotted along there and Tony was there and there was this very loud individual playing two-up or some game. Yes. And I thought, oh my God, who is this loud person? Well, he took one look at me and decided that he wanted the live to shoot. So from that day on, we dated. So you met that and what were your impressions? It's a little bit strange for me to be asking this question as your son, but what attracted you to Dad? What were your impressions of him and why did you take to him? Sure, I was that attracted to him. He was persistent. Okay. He disliked me. Yes. So there was an immediate attraction there. But anyhow, and I was new. So I was a new person. So Dad thought he'd get to know me. Sure. And so that was good. It just became part of the furniture and so did then Tony and Steven and Paul who was Phillip's brother, the same age as us and a whole pile of those guys that Dad went to school with. Yes. And so- It was mainly the same group. So it was Pat Duffy and- Pat Duffy. He was there. Yes. Yes. Peter Atkinson. Yes. Peter Atkinson. Yes. Soon after that though, Peter went to England. Nice to go. No, nice didn't come at all. Okay. So he wasn't better with some of them. No. No. So we didn't meet until we moved out to Greenwood. No. Okay. And yes, that's another story. But yes, so we just used to go and look for the social things and there was a lot of social things happening. But you were going to these things as Dad's girlfriend? Not at the beginning, but then yes, soon after. Soon after. Okay. Yes. But I'm going to press you on this point. So there must have been qualities in Dad that you were attracted to. Yes. Yes. So what were they? What did you see in him? Well, he's very thorough. Okay. Yes. He's a fun person. Believe it or not, very easy going. Yes. Like I've seen Ruffled Deer very much. Excellent. And he was fun and we did lots of things together. Yes. We had a very social group and yes, it was a fun year. Very good time. That's fantastic. Fantastic. And so at some point, Dad then asked you to marry him, presumably. Yes. And how long had you been dating and what were the circumstances? Okay. So what happened was, the first year out of my teaching, I taught in Catania. Okay. So this is you finished your studies. Finished as an adult. For three years or two years? Only two years. Two years. So you'd been dating Dad for about a year and then you finished your two years and then you went out to Catania. Yes. So I went to Albany for the six weeks holidays, then came down. Then, was it that year or the year after? No, it was the year after. And then I went off to Catania to teach at the primary school. And while I was in, when I was going to Catania, the principal of the school I was going to rang me and said, Bev, you're coming to the school to teach. And he said, the media, which is a church for young girls school, are looking for a housemaid to do. Would you like to do that? It's very broad and everything. And I said, oh yeah, chance to save money for me to live. So this is? My first year of teaching in Catania. In Catania. There's a job opportunity part time. Yeah. So I went to Cabino. I had a route. I was looking basically with the primary school boarders and they had an old German, I think she was, lady, lovely, lovely person who was their house mistress who looked after them basically. But I used to give her one weekend in three. So she'd go and have it to herself and I would go after the kids for that weekend. And then I used to do a study every Tuesday night. I just took off the study and that's all I had to do. So then I got free board. Yeah. And my own room. Yeah. So it worked out well. And the kids were great. And the primary school kids, you know, so they were easy. And so I did that for 12 months. And then the end of that year, Nessa's dad died. I was still unsure about where I was going with this relationship. Yeah. I wasn't sure. He didn't come up and come to visit you or? Not returning, but he sometimes came to Albany because what I did was, I was one weekend, not really though, I was one weekend in three returning. And then because I felt guilty because then I really had wanted me to go to Albany to teach. I went down there one weekend. Okay. Every third weekend. And I'd go to Perth every third weekend. Oh, so you saw that two out of three weekends anyway? One out of three weekends. Perth. Oh, so you can. But occasionally, you had doubt. Yeah. Not very often. Maybe in the school holidays or whatever. And so, and Loretta, you know, my friend Loretta, she was also teaching in Albany, 18 to 20. Yeah. And we used to drive together to drive back to, yeah, so I had a car by the stage, of course. So that was good. That worked out really well. But, you know, I still wasn't sure unless my dad died. And he was heartbroken and it broke my heart, seeing him heartbroken. And you were still a couple at the same time? Yeah. Yeah, we were still a couple. Albeit, I think I did actually see another guy in Albany and he knew about it. We didn't know then, but he has since. And he was seen every now and again. So we were still, we were away from each other, you know, we weren't going to be, you know. Anyhow, that was fine. So, but when his dad died and then that happened, I think November. And then at Christmas, he was heartbroken and I was heartbroken for him. And when it came down, he came down for Christmas. And when it was down at Christmas, he asked dad to marry me. But, yeah, so, and, you know, my heart broke for him. So I realized I did have really, really true feelings for him. Yeah. So, and then we just got married in the following May, in that May. Six months later. Or five. Or eight months later. Yeah. That's fantastic. And then tell me what you felt on your wedding day and what memories sort of stood out from that day. I remember feeling very nervous and I'm sure that everybody does. And I wasn't sure I was doing it right. And where was it? It was in Albany? In Albany. Yeah. Yeah. And were you anxious about the day or about the commitment? No, I was anxious about the commitment. Oh, okay. Yeah. Isn't everybody? I don't know. I was, you know. Well, you were young. You were young. I was very young and it had been quick. Yeah. And I was questioning my motives. Yeah. You know. But, yeah, no. But, no, it was good. Yeah. So we had, it was a lovely wedding. Was it? Yeah. Yeah. What do you remember from it? Like what stands out? My wedding day? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody being so happy and all our friends being around us and all our family, they'd be there and around us. It was a really, really nice wedding. Yeah. It was lovely. And then we stayed in one of the motels on the Saturday night after the wedding. And then on the Sunday, that was Mother's Day. So the dad and I witnessed for his mum before they came back to earth for Mother's Day. And then we witnessed for Nana. Yeah. Yeah. And said, you know, we should give her presents for Mother's Day. Yeah. Yeah. So that was nice.