Note: Mattie Boase was a "tailoress" who worked for Hannigan's in Millicent.
Memories
Note: Thelma Chapman Skitch: "Auntie Matt played the organ in the Methodist Church at Millicent."
"Mattie was a lovely woman. I think that Bid (Una Boase Shepherd) takes after her. She took things in her stride. She loved her children in the Methodist Sunday School. I think that Bid was just about her shadow."
Bruce Boase: "Aunt Mattie was the first dead person I ever saw in a coffin. She was a lovely person to me. I remember that after I had been riding a horse when I was little, she used to rub my bum."
Mattie had a boyfriend named Alex, who was a friend of her brother Ned. He died in World War I.
After Martha's eye operation she could no longer do sewing and tailoring, so she decided to set up a chicken farm. Unfortunately, the weather was too cold for the chicks and they died. Another misfortune.
Subsequently Martha and her mother took in boarders.
Note: Martha had a bone removed beause of cancer of the nose. When she died aged 52 years she was riddled with cancer. She had cancer of the stomach (terrible indigestion and belching). She also had cancer of the eye. After they removed her eye and replaced it with a glass eye, she couldn't do tailoring. She very sadly was in lots of pain.
Miss M.A. Boase, superintendent of the Millicent Sunday School kindergarten, who entered the Mount Gambier hospital a fortnight ago, was taken back to her home at Millicent on Friday. She is very ill, and grave fears are entertained for her recovery.
MISS M.A. BOASE Millicent August 6 The death occurred early on Wednesday morning of Miss Martha A. Boase, at the age of 52 years. She was a woman who, by example and precept, and the exercise of a most lovable personality, wielded a benign influence upon all with whom she came in contact. Amongst children of tender years, to hundreds of whom she devoted the best of her talents, her presence radiated happiness, and to them her death has brought a sense of irreparable loss. In her girlhood Miss Boase was afflicted with a painful malady, which necessitated a serious facial operation. Thereafter she enjoyed good health until three years ago when one of her eyes became affected, and she had to have it removed. She went through the ordeal with rare fortitude; and returned to a busy and purposeful round of self-imposed duties with cheerfulness unimpaired. In recent months her general health began to fail, but Miss Boase did not seek medical advice until four weeks ago. Dr. Salts could offer no hope of a cure, and all that science could do in the last months of her life was to mitigate the pangs of approaching death. The late Miss Boase was born at Greytown (South End), and spent the whole of her life in the Millicent district. She was the elder daughter of Mrs. L. and the late Mr. H. Boase. From an early age she evinced an active interest in Methodist Church affairs, and retained that interest throughout her life. She was the founder of the Sunday School kindergarten, and was the church organist for over 20 years. Residents of the district on Thursday paid fitting tribute to the memory of an ideal town woman. The Rev. W. Curry conducted a short funeral service at the Methodist Church. Miss Boase was a keen lover of flowers, and the church was beautifully decorated with lillies and violets. A very large congregation took part in the service, and afterwards joined in the funeral cortege to the Millicent cemetery. Six members of the Methodist Young Men's Bible Class acted as pall-bearers.