BIRTHS

Flynn Oughtred Blanchfield was born at 4.33pm on Wednesday 15 April 2020 weighing a healthy 3.98kg and measuring 54cm. Flynn is the first child to Grace Byrnes (2006) and Peter Blanchfield. 

MARRIAGES

1. Sarah McPherson (Gates, 2009) and Jack McPherson were married on Friday 17 January 2020 at Sarah’s grandparents farm in Shoreham, the same place her parents were married 35 years ago.

2. Fiona Paterson (Chartres, 2009) and James Paterson were married on Saturday 2 November 2019 at her family farm in Deniliquin. Fiona was accompanied by bridesmaids and fellow OGs Alison Brown (2009) and Harriet Atkinson (2009).

3. Claudia Hackworth (2008) and Paul Nguyen were married on Saturday 16 November 2019 in Byron Bay. Her bridesmaids were both Old Grammarians Annie Hickey (2008) and Bella Hackworth (2013), and Claudia’s ‘bridesman’, Tom Jalland (MGS 2008), had been her date to the Year 11 MGGS Formal.

4. Emily Sahhar (2011) and Aury James Contor were married on Friday 2 August 2019 in Lake Como, Italy at a villa called Villa Regina Teodolinda.

VALE

Acknowledging, celebrating and paying tribute to the women who make up our Old Grammarians community is important to us. Graduates of Melbourne Girls Grammar have gone on to do incredible things with their lives, and having the opportunity to celebrate their achievements is important to us.

If you'd like to pass on an obituary for an Old Grammarian for IE, please email community@mggs.vic.edu.au

• Annie Brockhoff (Osborne, 1960) 16 March 2020
• Barbara Crompton (Wilson, 1947) 23 February 2020
• Amanda Gramp (1968) 2 October 2019
• Jocelyn Hutchinson (Boekemann, 1948) 20 January 2020
• Helen Keneley (1960) 19 September 2019
• Judith Scarrott (Hudson, 1947) 17 October 2019

Kate Calvert (Ramsden, 1989) 11 October 2019 

Born in Sydney, Kate grew up in Albury NSW with her sister Penny (Boarder 1988-1991) and parents David and Barbara Ramsden.  Kate studied a Bachelor of Science at Monash University and then gained the Master of Science.  Kate married Tom Calvert on 10 October 1998.  They lived and worked together running their farming enterprise in Darlington, Victoria where they became dedicated community members and raised their three children Claudia (Boarder 2014-2017), Phoebe (Boarder 2016-2019) and Charlie.  Kate completed further study with a Bachelor of Education via correspondence and was a passionate member of Landcare.  She was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority and to the Board of Directors and then Deputy Chair of Southern Rural Water. Kate’s intelligence, humour, wit, warmth and generosity will be missed by all those who knew and loved her. 
Tribute by Fiona Devilee (Mills, 1989)

Elisabeth Edgar (Howitt, 1946) OAM 11 March 2019

Elisabeth, known as Lou, attended MGGS from 1941 to 1948, following in her mother’s footsteps (Kathleen Home, 1923). Sport took preference over her academic studies, particularly hockey. Her love of sport continued throughout her life, playing golf and tennis regularly. After a whirlwind romance, she married David Edgar and moved to the Harrow district in 1952, where they remained until 2014 before spending the last few years of their 66-year marriage in Hamilton. Elisabeth was also public spirited and in 2007 was awarded an OAM for service to the communities of Harrow and Edenhope for health, tourism and sport. She is survived by her husband, David, their children: Katherine (OG 1971), Richard and Elisabeth; four grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren.
Tribute by daughter Kate Edgar (1971)

Barbara Stephenson (Brown, 1945) 30 November 2019

Barbara came to the School as a boarder in 1940 from the Wimmera town of Jeparit. She was at MGGS when the School was taken over for war use and the students were evacuated to Marysville. She went home to Jeparit and attended Dimboola HES until she could return to complete her last two years at the School. After Matriculating, Barbara studied pharmacy and, with her husband Robert Stephenson, also a pharmacist, ran their own Pharmacy for most of her working life. After retiring to Sorrento, Barbara pursued her lifelong passions of genealogy, stamp collecting, history and travel, volunteering at local interest groups. She is survived by her four daughters (all Old Grammarians) Julie (1969), Rhonda (1971), Deborah (1973) and Michelle (1983) and their families. Barbara is pictured with her daughters Rhonda Vaughan and Julie Madin at the back and front Michelle Sinclair and Deborah Norman.
Tribute by daughter Julie Madin (Stephenson, 1969)

Mary Wardrop (Calder, 1951) August 2019

Mary loved her schooling, participating in sport (hockey) and she was a school councillor. She formed many long-standing friendships at school and later at university which remained important to her throughout her life, especially as a young bride in isolated Papua New Guinea in 1960. Apart from being a planter’s wife in New Guinea, she established a Trade Store for their plantation workers which was a great success and badly needed. Mary and Owen had four boys, three were born in Port Moresby and the youngest on her insistence in Australia near to family support. Leaving New Guinea soon after Independence she settled in the hills of the Tweed Valley NSW. After her husband died in 1986 Mary moved to a townhouse on the Tweed River maintaining her contacts with the Brisbane Old Grammarians.
Tribute by Mary’s sister, Margaret Kennedy (Calder, 1954)