Audrey Fry, long time resident in the region, who passed away Wednesday night at Banksia Lodge nursing home.
Cremation and ceremony at Broulee Crematorium Thursday 16th at 1.00pm.
Drinks at the Moruya Golf Club 3.00pm.
Sadly missed by family, Warwick, Kerry and Paula, Dylan, Holly and Zac, Jordi, 'Charli' (Charlotte), Kalhia, Leila and Jye
Audrey was a talented multi-skilled individual. She played golf regularly until her 98th year. She attended SKUGGS computer classes when she was 96, and excelled in her driving tests. She outlived most of her friends, dating from her glory days in the Army, but had the personality and social interest to make new friends - the War Widows, Legacy, the RSL, the Tomakin Club and the Moruya Golf Club - a social circle that reflected her persona and good judgement. Her love of sport and competition maintained her strong spirit and her health long after her husband Ken passed on.
She worked for most of her life. Firstly as a secretary at Farmers and Graziers in Bathurst, and then in the ANU Student Counselling service in Canberra when she became a friend to many of the students. She took out a BA in French as a part time student there when she was in her sixties. When she retired to Broulee she began to learn Spanish. In retirement at the family home in Broulee she devoted herself to gardening and her grandchildren, Holly and Dylan.
Although she tended to underestimate herself she was splendid in her achievements. She had 'people' skills that undershored the career of her husband Ken. Her secretarial skills go back to her days as the top morse code operator working directly under the Generals McArthur and Blainey in Brisbane during the Second World War. She came from a working class family and won a scholarship to the exclusive Fort Street Girls High School.
Working with her husband Ken, she was often the woman behind the man. Neither proud nor snobbish, she rubbed shoulders with media celebrities like Stephen Fry and Nobel Prize winners Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Noam Chomsky, and the current President of Timor Leste Jose Ramos Horta, and maintained those contacts until near the end of her life.
When Jose came to visit her in Broulee after he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, Audrey took him on in a tennis match and won. A little sheepishly, Jose admitted "She is very competitive, isn't she"?
She will be sorely missed by her friends in Broulee, Moruya and Tomakin and Canberra, her family, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren, and the wider community.
She will be cremated at the Broulee Crematorium March 16 at 1.00pm. Drinks 3.00pm at the Moruya Golf Club.
Warwick, Kerry and Paula
Dylan, Holly and Zac
Jordi, 'Charli' (Charlotte), Kalhia, Leila and Jye
