Funeral Service for Gertrude Esther Hunt (nee Hewlett) 1899-1990

Wesley Central Mission Church, Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
The services at both the Chapel and Graveside were conducted by
Rev. Peter Burnham, a Church of Christ Minister.

Reflections on Life and Death

The great dividing line of our existence in this world is the gap between life and death. There is nothing extraordinary about dying, it is one of the natural things that happen to us, particularly when it is after a long life. Once we accept life, we accept too that life will end someday, somewhere. As winter follows spring, and decay follows growth, death is the final act of our lives. And so, it was for Gertrude on Monday of this week. While we experience the sadness of her death let us not lost sight of the magnificent life that she lived.

Purpose of this Tribute

It is certainly not my intention today to intrude into those special times, events and places that form part of the fabric of your relationship with Gertrude. Those experiences will always be unique and special. But my purpose in these brief moments is to try, together, through words and thoughts to reflect on the essential qualities of this special woman.

Early Life and Hardship

Gertrude Esther Hunt was born in South Melbourne in 1899 to James Philip Hewlett and Helen Laura Foley. Her early life was not an easy one. She knew and experienced much hardship and deprivation in her early years, like many people born into the early part of this century.

Her father deserted the family in 1903 when Gertrude was 4 years old and her mother was left to raise her and her two sisters, Edith and Elsie. One can only imagine what a difficult task that was: to raise and care for a family at that time without the help and assistance of welfare. The eldest daughter, Edith, died in 1903 and this left Gertrude and her younger sister, Elsie. They were like twins and their relationship was to be very close down through the years until Gertrude's death.

Education and Early Work

Gertrude attended Victoria Park Primary School and later Princes Hill Primary School. She always regretted not being able to continue with her education, but like many of her generation, while not lacking in intelligence, other factors necessitated her leaving school and joining the work force.

She worked as a machinist at the Bedgood Shoe Factory in Collingwood as a machinist of the uppers of the Company’s range of sample shoes which meant that she was capable of using her hands. A skill that was to be used time and time again as she painted and maintained many of the properties she owned.

Marriage and Shared Life

At a Sunday School picnic, she met Leslie Thomas Hunt, who was an owner-operator bus driver. They were married in this chapel (Wesley Church, Russell Street, Melbourne) on March 30, 1935. One of the things the family loved to do together was to travel. Whether it was to embark on an adventurous expedition driving along what were in the 1920s and 1930s survey tracks in the high country of Victoria, or to go overseas, nothing seemed to daunt them.

Travel in New Zealand

In 1949 Leslie and Gertrude had a bus chassis fitted out as a caravan and had it shipped across the Tasman to New Zealand. There they stayed for a year cruising from town to town and from farm to farm. They were great celebrities wherever they went. Both Leslie and Gertrude were friendly people and a testimony to their friendliness was at one Christmas, they sent off 500 Christmas cards to friends they had made while in New Zealand. They returned to New Zealand in 1953/54 and stayed for 14 months also travelling from place to place, renewing old friendships and making new ones.

A Life Companion

Just a month before Leslie died in 1956, he had written a letter to a friend in Greymouth, N.Z. praising his wife, Gertrude, in these words:

"I am pleased to say that I am getting better in health, and I thank God for giving me such a wonderful life companion to help me -No man ever had a better wife than me".

What a glorious testimony to be able to write such a word about your wife. There is no greater word of praise that married partners can give each other than "life companion". That is a beautiful phrase. The meaning of the word 'companion' is ‘one who shares bread’. At the simplest level it means that we are one with others, sharing in our common humanity. In the midst of life's struggles, in our fears and fragility, in our tensions and anxieties, we support the other in word and action.

On another level, a companion enters the other's life for a while. A companion interrupts his/her own preoccupations and pitches in their lot with the other who has a need. That was certainly the kind of companion Gertrude was; to her own family and to all who encountered her. 

Character and Generousity 

She was a most generous person, preferring to do something tangible to help rather than to articulate her feelings. She knew what was happening to people when they were hurting in life, and out of her bounty she was able to give of herself and her substance to others.

She supported Owen and Marion's ministries in many ways, enabling them to do things they would not have been able to do on the resources of a minister's stipend. Those who were tenants in her properties had a special relationship with her as she cared for them as one of her family, treating people as people.

Strength and Independence

Gertrude's early childhood experiences forged in her an independence of spirit that enabled her to be an active woman right up until the last few months of her life. Owen mentioned to me yesterday that when she was 75 years of age she was a formidable character with a paint brush, painting a house or repairing spouting; he found it hard to keep up!

Her Enduring Gifts

As parents, we may often wonder how we can best prepare our children for life and for what we may imagine it holds for them. We can give them no greater gift than love and solid, substantial and enduring values upon which to build their lives. That has been Gertrude's gift to you: she has given you love, an open heart, an adventurous spirit, a selflessness that put herself second, a generosity that is large and unsparing, and a genuineness that has no place for image or status. You always knew that you were dealing with her true self.

These are her gifts. They will live on if we embrace them with gratitude and seek to emulate them in our own lives.

Final Tribute and Burial

In these moments of sadness today, in our thankfulness that our lives have been blessed with the companionship of Gertrude, perhaps these words of Marjorie Pizer may provide us with some comfort.

Russell Clark read: 'On Giving' by Gibran. Stuart Clark read: I Corinthians 13. Stuart also gave a beautiful talk about what his Nanna meant to him.

She was laid to rest with her husband, Leslie Thomas Hunt at the New Cheltenham Cemetery. The graveside and chapel services were led by Rev. Peter Burnham. Pallbearers included Stuart and Russell Clark.

The Existence of Love

I had thought that your death was a waste and a destruction,

A pain of grief hardly to be endured.

I am only beginning to learn that your life was a gift

and a growing and living left with me.

The desperation of death destroyed not the existence

of love, but the fact of death.

I am l;earning to look at your life again, instead of your 

death and dying.

They cannot destroy what has been given. 

Marjorie Pizer, (1981) "To you the Living, Poems of Bereavement and Loss" (from Selected Poems 1963-1983, 1984, Pinchyut Press: Sydney).