Eulogy for Isabel Wheatland

The following is a copy of the eulogy read by Alex Guinman at Isabel’s funeral on 10 Nov 2020.

Jean Isabel Wheatland was born on the 3rd of Feb 1937 to George and Jane Norris. She was the second youngest of 7, her siblings being her sister Joyce and brothers Billy, Bobby, George, Jackie and Jim. She always went by Isabel. In fact, she wasn’t even aware that her first name was legally Jean until her wedding day when the government made her redo the paperwork because her name was ‘wrong’.

Isabel went to Frenchville State School, as did her three kids and three of her grandchildren. It was a bit different then compared to the Frenchville of today. During the 2nd world war they had to practice jumping into trenches that had been dug on the school oval when the practice air raid sirens sounded. They also had to write with pen and ink, and one day she blotted ink on her page and the punishment for this was she got the cane across her fingers from the headmaster.

Isabel enjoyed playing hockey in her younger years but ended up getting hit in the mouth with a hockey stick… smashing a number of her front teeth out and having to get dentures. She told us that she wanted to play rugby league as well but her father didn’t think that it was a game for girls to play.

She left school at 12 years of age (as girls were not expected to attend high school then) taking up a job at Ricketts Bakery. She talked about wanting to be a nurse, but was told by her father that ‘good girls’ didn’t become nurses.

At around 18 she made the brave move with her best friend Bev to Brisbane to conquer ‘the big smoke’. They stayed with her Auntie Winnie but returned to Rocky having had enough of ‘the big smoke’, only two weeks later.

Isabel and Brian met at a local dance and loved dancing so much they kept it up for a lot of their life together. They would sometimes practise their dance steps when they were much much older, pushing all the living room furniture to the sides of the room so they had their own miniature ballroom to dance in. They liked to catch the train to Emu Park on the weekends, sometimes jumping on without paying just as the train was leaving. Brian talks of how she used to enjoy riding around with him on his motorbike, once crashing into the back of a car on the Fitzroy River Bridge. Even after this she still bravely enjoyed getting on the back.

On the 7th June 1958, they got married at St Andrews church on what Brian describes as a very rainy day, fortunately not a bad omen for their long and happy marriage. This year they celebrated their 62nd anniversary, something that they were very proud of.

Ross was born in 1959, followed by Graeme 2 years later, and finally Lorelle another 2 years after that. The family briefly lived in Eagle Junction and Margate while Brian did work training for the Postmaster General Department, but they spent most of their lives in Rockhampton.

Isabel’s life was full as a wife and mother looking after the three children and being involved with her wider family and friends and neighbours. The neighbourhood families enjoyed getting together regularly for barbeques at each other’s houses and social sport, with the kids racing around being carefree as they were in those days. Her and the kids would often walk to visit her sister Joyce and family cutting through the creek and bush before the houses were built. Only a few weeks ago while reminiscing, Isabel said that she still sometimes really missed her mum and sister.

She was always there for her kids. School holidays were often spent down at the creek catching tadpoles and guppies, neighbourhood kids always in tow. Or catching the bus into town to do some shopping or going to the movies.

She was always able to go to all the school sports days and anything else happening at the school as well as helping out at the tuckshop. Lorelle remembers these days fondly as it was the only time she, Ross and Graeme were allowed tuckshop. They usually got a pie and a chocolate Bi-Jingo - 12 cents for a pie and 8 cents for the ice-cream. She also volunteered at the Kindergarten just around the corner and also later at a childcare centre on the southside of town. She always loved kids.

Lorelle has shared the following memory: “Mum liked to sew and would make clothes for herself and I. There was always an endless number of birthday parties through primary school and one of the girls at school was being catty about how I always turned up to parties wearing the same two dresses. I went home to Mum crying about it and so the next day she went out and bought material and a dress pattern and sat up all night to make me a new dress for the party the following day. I remember feeling so good because I was the best dressed girl at the party.”

After Brian retired in 1993 they moved to Emu Park. Isabel had 7 grandkids, and she would always have her cupboard stocked with lollies and biscuits for when they visited on school holidays or weekends. Every year we would have Christmas with all the Wheatlands at Emu Park and grandma would make her famous trifle, and in later years her white chocolate cheesecake.

We have fond memories of grandma teaching us to play checkers, and card games like go fish and switch. If we stayed at the beach we would always go to her place for breakfast, because she’d let us watch cartoons on TV.

In their retirement, Isabel and Brian did many bus tours travelling all around Australia. Isabel played social tennis, continued her love of dancing with Brian, as well as Tai chi and line dancing.

She loved her Rugby League, and was a Parramatta fan for many years until the Cowboys and her beloved Jonathon Thursten entered the competition. She loved State of Origin and was able to attend a few games at Suncorp Stadium as well as a Test match between Australia and New Zealand and several Broncos games. She was very happy that she was able to see the entire game last Wednesday night on TV and see her beloved Queensland win the first game of the series..

She loved to read, mainly murder mysteries and biographies of her rugby league favourites. She also loved puzzles and crosswords (especially cryptic) and would do them daily. She said it was helping her brain stay sharp, and it worked because right to the end her mind was as sharp as a tack.

Isabel passed away on Saturday morning the 7th November at the Rockhampton Mater hospital. We would like to thank the wonderful medical staff at St. Andrews War Memorial Hospital Brisbane, especially Dr Alex Incarni and Dr Andrew Cartmill and the staff at Rockhampton Mater.

She will be greatly missed and remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She will live on forever, as she has left us all with many stories and memories of her love.