Proud, dignified, faithful, calm, interested, stoic, stylish – a true lady! These are the words that people used when I asked them to describe Mollie Basha. I am honoured today to have been asked to speak about her. Mollie Basha was a great woman and has been a very special part of the Ryan family’s life. As Tom mentioned, before my birth, she was a patient of my grandfather – Dr Frank Ryan. I’m told they shared a bottle of stout during morning rounds at the hospital to ensure adequate milk to breastfeed the newborn Tom, John and lastly Polly. Mollie baby sat my father Bill ... and survived! I’m aware now she visited my mother Pat and me soon after my birth at the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital. I was fortunate in that Mollie was chosen as my godmother along with her son Tom as my godfather – in hindsight and with maturity, I can see a certain balance there. When Mum & Dad were away we went on a picnic with the Bashas Senior (as we always referred to them), I can remember her comforting me as a mother would after my sister Denise managed to hit me in the head with a rock while attempting to skip rocks on Bendeela pondage. I had the pleasure of caddying for her when the women were allowed to join the men for Tuesday afternoon golf sessions involving Bashas, Seyffers and Ryans. Mollie and Joe always lived across the road in Worrigee Street and when asked how we were related, I always replied "Well, Mrs Basha is my Godmother but really they are my grandparents ... sort of..." that’s the way I'd always thought of her and Joe. Fortunately they had enough room to squeeze me in among all their true blood related 9 grandchildren and now 16 great grandchildren. My own 4 children hold Mollie very dearly and even named our very first chicken Mollie. For the record, the second was named Polly. You wouldn’t be surprised to hear the pair layed prize winning eggs for the Nowra show. Over the more recent years I've had the privilege to look after Mollie as a patient. Mollie, for me, was always a truly dignified lady who always dressed well. It's only in the last two to three years, I finally was comfortable calling her Mollie having always referred to her as Mrs Basha purely out of respect. Her mental acuity is legendary. She's the only one who you could rely on to remember the facts whether it was sport, politics, current affairs, Nowra’s history or even what her many grandchildren and great grandchildren were up to – the only one who really knew who was related to who, who had lived where and who could recount stories accurately. She was always supportive of those around her whether it was in a basic physical sense by providing the most wonderful food and especially her Lebanese (absolutely legendary) or just being available to talk with at any time. I know she was such a special friend to my mother. The other word that springs to mind is stoic. I watched her through first Joe's death and then her son, John's death. Neither was easy and yet she maintained herself with utmost composure at all times. Even in her final illness, as I talked to her about her heart slowly giving out with a “lack of cylinders” she just nodded and said "Okay". She was one of the few patients, I ever commenced on Warfarin, which is better known as rat poison, and she just nodded and said "Yes, fine". Always compliant. The other side of Mollie was her stories. The travelling and adventures both in and out of Australia – who could ever forget her description of entering that Indian restaurant in Singapore surrounded by cats wondering if they were to later become part of the meal. Her knowledge of the world through her travels always astounded me – history, culture, politics, sport and people of various countries plus all the friends .... she could discuss them all. With her great sense of humour, Mollie was one of those people that when she laughed you couldn't help but laugh along. The summer parties at the Basha house in Huskisson with black velvet or the stories shared at the 19th hole at the end of golf particularly during winter when green ginger wine was bought to ward off the cold. I think her biggest frustration during her final illness was that her mind was so sharp and yet her body was slowly giving out. When I visited her with Katja the night before she died, we talked about all sorts of things including her favourite trees, Labor power brokers buying real estate in her beloved home suburb of Woolwich, her latest grandchild trying to survive at St. Michaels and vice versa and even the terrible tragedy of Christchurch. As I bent over to say goodbye, she looked up and said "Nice tie" which bought a smile and laughter to our final farewell. I feel very privileged to have known her and for her to have been so much a part of our family and ours of hers. The final Xmas drinks last year in the garden at Worrigee Street will always be a special memory – she looked like a queen surrounded by the multitude of relatives. I know now she'll be sitting somewhere with Joe and Johnny eating some oysters (possibly after a scotch) keeping an eye on all of us. She was a wonderful wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother and godmother as well as a friend. She will be sorely missed by all of us fortunate enough to know her.

FAMILY TRIBUTE TO MUM AT HER FUNERAL WEDNESDAY 2nd MARCH 2011 Mum was born in North Sydney on 22nd May 1913. She was raised in Longueville on the lower North Shore of Sydney as the eldest of 3 children. Her wonderful parents were Harry and Ethel Scope who later turned out to be super grandparents. Her siblings were Jack and his twin sister Betty and they arrived in April 1918. Jack was a keen sailor who won a number of State Championships and he enjoyed taking others out on the water and Mum was often included. Betty was a very good dressmaker and she built a business around her formidable skill. In 1976 Mum, Betty and Betty’s husband Noel travelled on an extensive trip through Europe together. Mum was educated by the Marist Nuns at Woolwich and she had a life-long appreciation of the education afforded her. School was a short ferry ride across the Lane Cove River and I imagine a long climb up a lot of steps. Mum was baptised at her Parish Church St. Michael’s in Lane Cove and received her first Holy Communion at St. Peter Chanel’s Hunters Hill. When she married she moved to St. Michael’s in Nowra and effectively never left St. Michael’s. Upon leaving school she enrolled in a secretarial course at St. Patrick’s Business College Church Hill. She later worked at the Sydney Water Board, Art Furnishings and completed her working career at the Australia Hotel as secretary to the Catering Manager and organised parties and weddings etc. for the honourable and not so honourable burghers of Sydney. She once told us of an elaborate party arranged for John Woolcott- Forbes a well known financier of the time who later fell from grace. When the party was over there was a large number of Stuart Crystal champagne glasses that nobody knew what to do with, so the boss handed them out to the staff and Mum scored 18 beautiful glasses which still sit proudly in the Worrigee Street Crystal cabinet. Another time the boss decided to take Mum and Dad on a picnic to Palm Beach. They piled into his car and they were half way across the Harbour Bridge when he realised he had forgotten the champagne, so he did a uie on the bridge, returned to the Australia, picked up the champagne and set off again. She travelled to work in those days by ferry and watched the slow construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. She had a much loved uncle; Barney Jarvis who helped build the Bridge. It didn’t do Barney any harm; he died a few years ago at the age of 100. Mum had a great love of cricket and accompanied her father Harry to many Test and Sheffield Shield matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Harry played for many years for the Lane Cove Cricket Club and he has the distinction of once bowling one delivery to Don Bradman which bowled him. He retired from bowling to Bradman with a perfect score and quit while he was ahead. Incidentally he was booed off the field for his effort and was miffed to learn that the spectators had come to watch Bradman bat, not to watch Pop bowl. In later years attendance at the Sydney Test with Dad was an annual fixture and they had the great experience of attending the Centenary Test in Melbourne against England in 1977 which Australia won by 45 runs, the same margin with which they had won the original. For many years Mum was a keen golfer and was an early member of the Nowra Golf Club. She attended Country Week in most years with her great friends Sister Shields and Monnie Woods. In the early days before she was married, she took up skiing and visited Kosciusko. At that time there were no chair lifts, it was Shanks’s pony up the hill and ski down. The best one was the last one. In latter years Mum was a member of the Nowra Day View Club and attended many lunches and other functions. She was also a guest at many functions and trips organised by Nowra Probus. We wish to thank her friends who organised transport for her and made all this possible. Mum met Dad through his sister Rae who attended school at Woolwich with Mum and they became great friends. Mum visited Nowra a number of times on school holidays and the spark must have been kindled then. I’m not real sure because I wasn’t around. They eventually married in January 1939, the time of the terrible Black Friday bush fires and remained together until Dad died 2 days after his 86th birthday in 1995. Throughout her whole life she only lived in 2 houses including 72 years in Worrigee Street. At the end of her life she did move into respite care in Osborne House for 33 days, but didn’t become a permanent resident there. After 72 years she insisted that she was local. I arrived in February 1941, John (sadly deceased), in January 1944 and Polly in June 1947. A few weeks ago I celebrated my 70th birthday and I phoned Mum to ask her how she felt to be the mother of a 70 year old son. She replied that she hoped that I was easier to manage now than when I was first born. We were raised in a happy and loving environment, but with firm discipline, establishing the basis for us to begin our adult lives. We were gratefully provided with an excellent education which was high on their list of priorities. John and I were given another wonderful opportunity when we entered the family business begun by our grandfather and became our life’s work until John died and I retired. Polly left school to undertake nursing and is currently in a management position with Uniting Care at Osborne House in Nowra. Mum’s 2 great life interests were her family and her home. Dad may have been the head of the house, but Mum was certainly the heart of the home. She developed great cooking skills and Saturday mornings were a ritual of the baking of cakes and biscuits including a baked dinner which was ready to be carved by my father as soon as he walked in the door at 5 past 12. This was consumed quickly as Dad would be off fishing in the Viking in or off Jervis bay with his brother Phil and brother-in-law Harold Mannell and various mates. We kids would be off to the flicks as they were known then and I’m not sure what Mum did, but I did notice upon our return that the washing up had miraculously been completed, the house was spotless and the washing and ironing had been returned to the appropriate drawers in our bedrooms. If Dad had had a successful day in the boat we then enjoyed fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week. Good thing we all liked fish. Mum was the perfect hostess for family gatherings of which there were many and often provided hospitality for Dad’s business associates, sometimes with not much notice. Mum and Dad had a large group of friends through business, clubs and church etc. and in later years enjoyed their company on many holiday trips in Australia, New Zealand and Asia and her memory of these trips as in other experiences was always faultless. Mum was fortunate to enjoy superlative health throughout her long life up until about 3 months ago when her heart started to fail. She had great difficulty at first in accepting the fact that her condition was incurable. In earlier years her long time physician Dr. Frank Ryan once remarked that if all of his patients were as healthy as Mum, he would have difficulty making any money. The association begun with Dr. Frank, continued after his death with his son Bill and daughter-in-law Pat and further into the third generation with Mark. It has been a very happy association and not only have they looked after our health, they are counted amongst our closest friends. Mum was always a gentle non-confrontational lady who preferred to remain in the background and let others take the lead. When she did speak it was with confidence and common sense. Her memory never failed her and always knew what was going on in the various branches of the family. She was always interested without being intrusive in family affairs. Mum only gave advice when asked and she was a source of quiet strength in any family situation. Many of you would know that Deanna and I have a profoundly handicapped daughter Louise, who has always needed 24 hour care. When she was an infant she required a lot of medical attention, much of it in Sydney and my parents were often called upon to care for our other 4 children and often at a moment’s notice. They always provided the necessary help without question. Mum was always very conscious of her appearance. We wonder how many world trips could have been undertaken if she had had curly hair. Thanks to Joan McGrath her hair always looked lovely. She enjoyed shopping for clothes and shoes and was always appropriately dressed for every occasion. We would also like to thank Robyn and Bernard Condon and Barbara Davis for their wonderful service and companionship in keeping the household afloat over many years. Polly feels very grateful for the opportunity to have become Mum’s companion after her husband Gordon died in 2001. There were few arguments, but Mum was always in control. They travelled on a number of short trips together and visited Polly’s home in Berridale many times. Apart from some very small ankle biters the whole family is here today with the exception of our daughter Louise and Judy’s daughter Rachel Franklin who lives with her young family in London. In closing both Polly and I feel very lucky and indeed very humbled to have had our mother’s company for so long. Many people don’t enjoy this great advantage. Polly and I and our extended family would like to thank you all for making this journey to help us celebrate our mother's long life.

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