Olive O’Donoghue
Born: 13 September 1916
Died: 25 August 2013
CELEBRANT Dawn Dickson’s first funeral was for her uncle, Paddy O’Donoghue, 33 years ago at the Noble Park Town Hall.
Last Friday she led the service for his wife Olive at the same venue, now known as the Paddy O’Donoghue Centre.
‘Aunty Ol’ passed away peacefully at Noble Manor in Noble Park, aged 96.
“I guess it goes with having lived a healthy life – eating good food and never imbibing in anything stronger than tea,” Ms Dickson said.
“Ol was a unlike many other old folk – she wasn’t waiting for the letter from the Queen.
“Ol would say ‘I don’t want to live that long’.”
Olive was born in Dandenong and schooled at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School and Dandenong High School, where she met Paddy, two years her senior, at age 14.
They attended local dances, with Paddy playing violin in the orchestra.
“The band always finished the last bracket with the same song, so Paddy would play the first part of the song then put down his fiddle and make his way onto the dance floor where Ollie was waiting,” Ms Dickson said.
The pair married in Caulfield on 18 January 1941.
Ms Dickson said Olive looked after people for most of her life.
“She travelled back and forth to Dandenong by train, daily for a long time, to care for her ageing mother,” she said.
“When Paddy developed heart troubles, he was forced to retire from work and Ol was absolutely devoted to caring for him.”
She also fundraised for community groups and participated in local activities.
“Who here didn’t buy a cake baked by Ollie?” Ms Dickson said.
“Everyone knew her, and if she wasn’t around for a day or two people would ask about her.”
She was a feisty woman, too. One night while watching TV she heard a crash and saw a man’s leg coming through her blinds.
“Rather than run outside, she went into the passage to phone the police,” Ms Dickson said.
“On another occasion she came home … went around the back and found a young man breaking into her garage. She fronted him and booted him out the gate.”
Her great passion of about 70 years was the Collingwood Football Club.
“Ol wasn’t like your typical footy supporter – a lady never heard to raise her voice,” Ms Dickson said.
And Olive was proud of her roses and her ‘graduates’.
“Only those family members and friends who held a degree got to get their photo on the piano,” Ms Dickson said.
“The rest of us were on the book cases.”
She also loved the Koala Gym Club, which Paddy founded in the 1970s.
“For almost 40 years I have taken Ol to the Koala Gym display nights,” Ms Dickson said.
“She proudly made her way across the mats to present two trophies – one in her name and one in Paddy’s name.”
Olive had a large extended family.
“And in recent days lots of people have told me how their kids and grandkids looked forward to getting decorated cards on their birthdays, usually with five dollars in them,” Ms Dickson said.
“So she was Aunty Ol to lots of others, outside our family.”
– CASEY NEILL
