Biographical Notes |
Note: She so loathed her given name that when an adult she had it changed by Deed Poll to Molly the name used by her family. She was the embroidery and knitting expert at the Myer Emporium from 1929 and was a judge of crochet, knitting, tapestry and all kinds of embroidery up to and after her retirement in 1963. As a young woman she was in partnership with her second cousin (and later sister-in-law) Dorothy Daniel at a shop specialising in handcrafts at Melbourne. The Adelaide "News" of 2 Feb 1953 had a long article of her accomplishments, and also recounted various oddities of those she taught, from a boot maker who wished to supplement his income during the Depression by knitting garments for sale at night, a shearer to whom she taught macrame work, to her women pupils, as many as 100 in a day. From 1937 she judged handwork at the Clare Show and the Royal Adelaide Show.
Once during W.W.2 she had to judge the best from 5,000 pairs of hand knitted socks and another time she organized a class of 150 shop assistants and taught them to make much needed camouflage nets and hundreds were sent overseas. The article ended with her great love of gardening at her Kingswood home, "watering can and hoe in hand". Molly and Glen, the last survivors of the many relatives they had sheltered over the years did hand work for the benefit of charities. They kept their large garden in perfect order and specialised in roses until age and failing health forced them to cease such activity. They had an enviable collection of antiques. Some interesting pieces had been inherited. There was a round table, inlaid with pale woods depicting a hunting scene and a collection of rare Mary Gregory glassware coloured with raised white figures and a good deal of fine antique silver.
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