By MARG STORK
MISS Thelma Rose Black enjoyed a distinguished teaching career of 40 years.
She will be remembered as a staff member of one of Greater Dandenong’s oldest primary schools, the state school in Foster Street East, Dandenong.
Miss Black was born in Berwick, the daughter of Wallace Moncrief and Rose Black, and was the eldest of three children.
Her parents were well known as apple orchardists and fruit packers in Pakenham Upper and the City of Casey areas, having settled there about 1909.
Miss Black attended the Pakenham Upper State School and the Upwey High School where she was dux of the school during her last year there. As a teenager she demonstrated her skill as an apple packer winning several prizes at agricultural shows including a first prize at the Royal Melbourne Show where she was presented with a watch.She completed her secondary schooling at MacRobertson’s Girls High School
She dedicated her talents to shaping the young minds of generations to follow, with her main focus on early primary years.
She began teaching in Emerald before returning to Melbourne to complete her formal studies at the teachers college. In those days, young teachers started work in single-teacher schools and this took her to many rural areas including Burong near Yackandandah, and Polkemmet East near Horsham.
She had a close family friend nearby as her cousin Nancy Ferguson was teaching nearby also at a small rural school. Miss Black also taught at other country schools ncluding Warrnambool, Warracknabeal, Trawool, and Beechworth before she returned to Pakenham.
In 1958, Miss Black combined her two greatest loves, teaching and travel, when she sailed to the United Kingdom for teaching appointments in England and Scotland.
In her retirement she helped the community in Pakenham by delivering meals on wheels and at the local opportunity shop. She also was a member of the historical society.
Over the past three years she suffered health issues that prevented her living alone at her Pakenham home. She moved to the Ranelagh Gardens aged-care facility, where she died peacefully on August 9.
The Rev Dr Robert Johnson of the High Street Uniting Church in Frankston officiated at her funeral service at Le Pine’s Funeral Chapel in Dandenong.
