Shep's Place Family Tree

Mrs. Clode senior was a difficult mother-in-law, interfering and unfriendly so Marion and Jack built a house for themselves on the Clode land which eased the situation. She was aged 40 when her first child was born. When old Mrs. Clode died Marion and Jack were joint owners of "Wattle Vale" until they sold and purchased "Allawah", Ournie, 86 miles from Albury in 1952, a small settlement near Jingellic in mountainous country. There was already a large farm house of 10 rooms, built of timber and galvanized iron and a strange system of water for the house conveyed from a spring on the hillside above by a series of pipes. Sheep and cattle were their main interest. The elder son John worked the property with his father until 1966, then on his own following Jack's death, on behalf of Marion and himself. When John married three years later Marion removed to Albury where she purchased a house.

She lived there, mostly alone, sometimes with a boarder, usually a student and for a time a young policeman, not so much for the extra income as she had been left quite well off by both husband and father, but rather for the company. She corresponded with E.M.S. for 40 years up to the time of her death. She died under the shower from a heart attack one night when she was 89 in the September of 1981 and remained there until well into the following day when a neighbour who noted the bathroom light was still on became concerned and contacted Marion's younger son Hugh, of Albury. She had suffered from arthritis for some time although not crippled or incapacitated. At Ournie she had been verb active in events of the district, the Country Women's Association and church affairs. She visited Adelaide for the last time in 1970.