Valé Edwina Doe

By Jude Paul, Glebe Society Secretary, Bulletin 1/2024, March 

Valé Edwina Doe, 21/02/1936 – 26/12/2023

When Edwina’s English nieces recently flew to Sydney to take Edwina’s ashes back to England to join those of her parents, as she had wished, they found a copy of Edwina’s self-penned eulogy. In red type at the top of this document, Edwina had noted, ‘The written word count of a eulogy should fall somewhere between 500 to 3000 words. It generally takes a person five minutes to say 1,500 words, speaking at an average rate. So that gives you some idea of the word and the actual time it will take to make the eulogy speech.’ The headline follows: ‘Edwina’s Draft Eulogy – July 2023.’ And in red type again, ‘1780 words.’ 

Her eulogy opens with, ‘I have had a good life. It was mostly unplanned, but it worked out very well.’ Not only did it work out well for Edwina, it also worked out well for the countless people who benefitted from Edwina’s society and her contribution to the well-being of both her local community and the community at large. 

Edwina was born in Battersea, London, in 1936 and lived mainly in Twickenham, west of London, until she came to Australia. There are few clues about Edwina’s decision to leave England and her family, apart from her own description:

At Easter 1964, I was camping in the Wye Valley near Wales. It snowed, so I contacted Australia House and asked to be a Ten-Pound Pom. After a brief interview and a chest X-ray, I was offered a flight to Australia in October.

Edwina arrived in Sydney on 26 October 1964. The next day, she attended two job interviews she’d arranged before leaving England and, within a week, had started a full-time job as a market researcher, continuing a career already established in England and one she would pursue for the rest of her working life. It seems Edwina did not plan to move to Australia permanently, but a holiday to visit her parents in England in 1968 made her realise Sydney had become her home. 

There were many beneficiaries of Edwina’s passions, generosity and skills. Edwina was a founding member of the NSW branch of WEL (Women’s Electoral Lobby). WEL was formed nationally in 1972 to conduct a large-scale survey of candidates’ views on issues affecting women in the 1972 federal elections and simultaneously to mobilise women’s political power. For the next 14 years, Edwina was a proofreader of WEL Informed, the monthly newsletter of the NSW branch. WEL still functions today as a feminist, non-party political lobby group.

In the mid-1970s, Edwina moved to a terrace in Glebe, initially conducting her own market research business downstairs and living upstairs. This house on Bridge Road became Edwina’s home for the rest of her life. She joined the Glebe Society in 1983, and by the time she retired from formal work in 2002, she had undertaken the roles of Senior Vice-President, President, Treasurer, Bulletin Editor and Membership Coordinator. For ten years following her retirement, Edwina was again the Bulletin Editor and proofreader of every issue since. Edwina was an Honorary Life Member of the Glebe Society

Edwina’s Glebe Society role was one of many she took up in retirement. Others included conversations at the Adult Migrant English Service (AMES), reading newspapers on air at Radio for the Print Handicapped (RPH) in Glebe (later joining the Board and writing an RPH history leaflet) and, in her own words, the opportunity ‘to proofread books, university theses or anything else, for money or for pleasure.’ 

Ever a keen knitter, Edwina was a very active supporter of the Red Cross Trauma Teddies network. In 2012, she became the Coordinator for the Greater Sydney area Teddy branches. Since its beginnings in 1990, Trauma Teddies volunteers have knitted hundreds of thousands of teddies and donated them to children fleeing emergencies, refugee children, hospital-bound children, and children needing a happy face at a lonely time. It’s estimated that 600+ knitters donate 50,000 teddies a year. 

Throughout her life, Edwina enjoyed travel, starting with her first trip overseas in 1957. A real highlight for her was the gift of a round-the-world air ticket for her 65th birthday from the two women who had been her last market research bosses. For nearly 50 years, Edwina took the opportunity to travel, especially to catch up with family and old friends in England. Her last overseas trip was to Antarctica via Argentina in 2004. 

COVID sadly took a toll on Edwina. Her love of symphony concerts, theatre, dining out, aquaerobics and meeting up with friends was significantly curtailed during these years. Nonetheless, Edwina said of her own life, 

To sum up, since the 1970s, I have lived my own life, with a wide circle of friends and usually with cats. Having no ties from a partner or children has given me freedom to combine home, work and volunteering. I am a feminist, a socialist and an atheist. I have no expectations of an afterlife, or of reunions. I will only live on in the memories of other people, and I hope they will be good memories.

Good memories indeed. Better than good. Please join us to share some of these and to hear the full version of Edwina’s eulogy.

‘Thirsty Thursday’ for Edwina Doe

Place: Otto Noorba Turkish Restaurant, 79 Glebe Point Road, Glebe

Date: Thursday, 28 March 2024

Time: 6-9 pm

Price: A menu has been pre-arranged at $45 per head

This restaurant is licenced and bookings are essential.

Bookings: https://thirsty-thursday-for-edwina-doe.eventbrite.com.au.

 

 

Reflection on Edwina, a mentor

By Virginia Simpson-Young, Bulletin editor 2013-2022

Proofreading Edwina’s obituary above moved me to write a few words. I owe Edwina a great debt of gratitude, and it saddens me I didn’t get to tell her this before she died.

Edwina handed the editor baton on to me late in 2012. For the decade I was editor, Edwina was my mentor; she helped me in ways too many to mention. Edwina’s support for me and her commitment to the Bulletin were as strong in the tenth year as in the first. I doubt there would be many people who could sustain such a commitment. 

Edwina shaped my editorship, firmly but gently ensuring I maintained the high standard she had set in her decades as editor. Edwina’s proofreading was invaluable. Yes, she was a stickler for good grammar and never missed an errant apostrophe. Yet, she went further, insisting on clarity and accuracy. She checked facts, sometimes contacting authors when clarification was needed. She conveyed all this to me with kindness and without expressing the exasperation she must have felt when I failed to meet her high standards. 

I’d often leave the Bulletin editing to the last minute, giving the proofreaders little time to do their job. Edwina insisted I send her the Bulletin to check, no matter what time of night I’d finish it. She’d wait patiently, often until the wee hours for me to send it, then check it and get it back to me within the hour. She did this despite her advancing age and health issues. That’s commitment.

I had the privilege of editing Edwina’s memoir. She lived life on her own terms. She was courageous and thought nothing of defying society’s expectations of women of her generation. Yet she did this with grace. To use a much over-used expression, Edwina was an inspiration.

Jude’s obituary for Edwina required little proofreading but I wanted to honour Edwina by suggesting changes I knew she would have wanted. She would have insisted that ‘vale’ had an acute on the ‘e’; I put commas where I knew she would have put them and made sure ‘Bulletin’ was italicised, something she was most insistent upon.

I will miss Edwina very much.