Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 34, September 1990
CATHERINE SCANLAN (formerly Pamplin)
The death occurred on June 8, 1989 in Auckland of an old Waihi identity. The late Mrs Catherine Scanlan who, with her late husband, Hilton Victor Scanlan, owned a boarding house in Kenny Street, Waihi, on the corner where the Baptist Church now stands, in the late 1930's. She was in her 96th year and was cremated at the South Auckland Crematorium Chapel, Papatoetoe.
A notice now held by the Waihi Historical Society was evidently displayed in the boarding house and gave a clear indication of the behaviour expected of the boarders.
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MEALS Monday to Friday: Breakfast 7 a.m. — 7.45 a.m. Lunch 12 — 1 p.m. Dinner 5 p.m. — 6 p.m. Saturday, Sunday & Holidays: Breakfast 7.45 a.m. — 8.15 a.m. Dinner 12 - 12.30 p.m. Tea 5 .p.m. — 5.30 p.m. No Drinking allowed. Please keep heads off Wallpaper. All damage to be paid for. No heavy boots in Dining Room. No Wireless on after 10 p.m. Late-comers please come in quietly H. V. SCANLAN, Proprietor. |
MARY ELLEN WORTH (nee Thompson)
The following eulogy was delivered by Mrs Jay Kung, Granddaughter,at the funeral service held at the Salvation Army Citadel, Waihi, on 19th June, 1989.
MARY ELLEN WORTH was born in a miner's cottage in Albert Street, Waihi on 29th April, 1898, three months after her parents arrived in New Zealand from Ireland. This would probably have made Mary one of the oldest Waihi born citizens still residing in Waihi.
Her father, George Thompson, worked on the railways and later for the Council. When she was 2 years old her mother died, and she went to live near Howick with her Aunt and Uncle where she was very happy. At the age of six her father remarried and they returned to live in Albert Street. Her brother Jack was born and later her sister, Edna.
As was usual in those days, she left school at about 14 years of age and went to work as a home-help in different homes. An ordinary profession you might say, but those years would have prepared her for her future labours and child-rearing. Mary worked for a while at the Waihi Hospital, and then met and married George Harold Worth when she was 18. Together they didn't move very far - only shifting next door to the home on the corner of Waitete Road and Albert Street, where she lived for over 50 years.
After the first four children were born; Jack, Ashley, George and Shirley, the family went to Muir's Reef twice for a short time. Four more children arrived; Sheila, Allan and the twins, Hazel and Beryl, much to the delight of the other siblings. This twin birth has become an inheritance for each generation.
It was hard work bringing up eight children, but the family were very happy and the atmosphere was loving. If they didn't have all the extras that children have today it really went unnoticed as there were plenty of paddocks, the creek - which played a big part in their lives - and a million things to do with ten people all living under the one roof.
The war years were worrying, with threesons, Jack, Ashley and George overseas in the Forces.
Mary also had some outside interests. She belonged to the Orange Lodge, the Miners' Pensioners' Association and the Salvation Army Women's Home League.
She was the sort of person who never got flustered and she took everything in her stride, including acquiring her Driver's Licence at about the age of 53. When she turned 60 she went to work for her son-in-law, Phil, for 10 years, which she really enjoyed.
At 70 she lost her husband, George, and shifted out of Albert Street into Martin Road, where she lived for 10 years. After Martin Road, she went to Hetherington House for eight years and the last two years - to the grand age of 91 - were spent in Waihi Hospital.
Mary was a wonderful wife and mother - a very loving person, loved by all of her very large family. She will not, and could not be forgotten as she was a quiet, but big influence on their lives.