Good evening everyone and welcome home to the travellers who were lucky to beat the lockdown and got to go away.
Due to the long weekend, we didn’t have a Bulletin as the creator and editor was on a well-earned break. But this is catchup week and as you know the last week, we caught up was on Zoom due to the lockdown and restrictions. Because it was more or less a last-minute decision to go zooming, we were left with what do we do for the night and fortunately for us Maggie Isom stepped in and gave us an extremely enlightened insight on her life as a child growing up to where she’s at today.
The presentation was amazing as she was able to share her screen with us and we could follow and get a better idea as to where and what she had been doing throughout her very interesting life.
Born in 1945 (a date she shares with Trevor Pickles apparently) the only child living with her Parents, Grandmother and Aunt in Moonee Ponds, until David her brother came along 4 years later. After suffering from Asthma as a child and in and out of hospital it inspired her to want to become a nurse.
With a parental influence, of a strong, dominant, conservative English father, who was also in Rotary and a lively, energetic, lovely Mother (Maggies words) she lived a happy life.
Opportunities started to open up for her in the Nursing career. Her family was moved to East Africa due to her Father’s work and where she began her training at Gertrude’s Garden Children’s Hospital some 9 miles out of Nairobi in East Africa… but this was not meant to last for long. On their return home she started and finished her training again at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and made life-long friends of nearly 60 years.
She married a farmer and lived on the farm throughout the hardships of drought and difficulty that farming can bring. Her career saw her working as a nurse in numerous bush hospitals. She and her husband had two children whom we know so well, Sophie and Anthony.
Throughout her nursing career she saw poverty at its extreme and understood the need for Community Health Centres for those less fortunate. She has over the years Managed, Developed, and supported such centres herself including the Bell Street centre in Torquay. Due to certain unfortunate circumstances over one New Year’s Eve night the ‘No Drinking or Camping in Public Places’ was created and still stands today thanks to likes of Maggie, Mal and other concerned locals and the Surf Coast Shire.
During her time at the Bell Street Centre, she was approached by Stan Boyle and Chris Sims and was asked if she wanted to join Rotary, with the influence and long standing of her Father in Rotary there was no hesitation to say, Yes.
The years that followed Nursing played a huge part in the life of Maggie, her years of training stood strong and helped with her being able to help those around her and as well as the nursing side she managed to put her skills of management to great use. She set up and managed such centres as The Geelong Breast Screen, Education Officer with Arthritis Victoria, Geelong Hospice Care, Care Co-ordination at Geelong Hospital, District Nursing then finally back to her true love, District Nursing.
Her passions still remain with ‘End Polio Now, Donate Life, and involved with District Rotary Foundation, as well as Rotary. She has also managed to re-invent herself with becoming a Marriage Celebrant and has brought much happiness to many a couple. Her inspiration for everything she does comes from as close as home from her daughter, Sophie and her Granddaughter, Emily.
Her talents don’t end just with her Nursing or Celebrant careers she’s also heavily involved with numerous other interests in her life and one that has always been a passion of hers and that is with the arts which very much include singing and music. Her involvement with the Barwon Heads Fine Music Society is not only as a Choral Singer but also as the Secretary of this wonderful Institution.
So, there is always a story to be told and I am sure that any one of us has our own story to tell, but as far as Maggie is concerned, she’s in a category of her own at least she can offer you a band-aid, nurse you back to health, sing you a lullaby and even Marry, Christen or Farewell you… This is, of course, not including all that she does for Rotary, that’s for later…!
Thank you Maggie for that insight, into your very interesting and wonderful life.
Please don’t forget that tomorrow night is another Zoom meeting starting at 6.30pm and will go for just an hour until 7.30pm this will then be followed by a Joint Board Meeting.
The following Monday 28th June will be my last Hoorah and we are going to have a social night at the Torquay Hotel where partners are invited. We are booked for 6pm and hope that if all goes well we should have a great night out. Please look out for the event notice and make sure you let us know ASAP as to whether you can make it as we need to let the Hotel know for catering and staff purposes.
