Social life was centred around people's homes, and sometimes these were fund raisers. There were card parties, shed dances, tennis and cricket. Myra would help with hosting the parties at Mundoonan. She is on record as saying it is now a disgrace to see the tennis courts in Yass and elsewhere not in use and gone to rack and ruin.

During WW2, a lot of time was spent knitting and spinning. Her mother was a keen spinner and Myra was mainly doing the knitting, although she did do some spinning making sea boot stockings from the home spun wool. She made jumpers, socks, balaclavas etc, and also made camouflage nets. She put little notes in with the knitting and received thank you letters from all over the world for these items.

The war years were hard in other ways for Myra. She had a close relationship with her father, and he became quite unwell with heart problems. He was hospitalised in Sydney, but sent home by train when the Japanese subs attacked Sydney harbour. This was a surprise as there was not much information about what was going on back in those days.

Her father died in 1945, but meanwhile they had the joy of seeing her older brother Eddie married in 1941, and she gained her first niece — me in 1943.

Towards the end of the war years, Myra enjoyed some brief holidays with her friend Grace. On one occasion they went to Melbourne by train, and on another to Sydney.

Linton War Veterans home was opened in 1946 and Myra and her mother made the Xmas cake each year for the first few years. She was often making sponge cakes for street stalls to raise money and for other occasions.

In 1947 there was a woolshed dance out the Yass River and it was there she became friendly with Charlie Hedges. Charlie tells the story that after all these Navy and Air Force fellows she wrote to who received her knitting that she married an ordinary Army Sergeant Major. They were married on 13th March 1948 in this Church. Clothing coupons were still in use then, and she made her own dress.

Part two: spoken by Rona

I am honoured to be a part of the celebration of Myra's life today, just as I was honoured to be a flowergirl at age three at Myra's wedding, along with Una. It is one of my earliest memories, with the other flowergirl – Una Thompson as she was then - crying a lot, and Nancy wanting to try on my frock afterwards.

Charlie had a small property leased up the Yass River and so they lived at home with Myra's mother for nearly 18 months. They then were helped by the family to buy Jack Gruber's farm, Willowvale, where her son Max still lives. In those days it had no electricity, no sink, a tap in the comer of the kitchen, an old fuel stove, a pantry, no shelves, an old box type kerosene fridge, and a toilet out in the paddock. Gradually things improved, they got a chip heater for the bath instead of having to boil the copper, and put a toilet inside. Electricity came on in 1956. The boom wool prices in the early fifties helped them a lot financially so they could reduce debt and improve things.

Myra is survived by three children, five grandchildren and two great grand children. A big focus for her was her family, and we were always included too.

She had a difficult time initially, with a miscarriage in 1948, then a baby girl whom they named Florence was born in 1950 but only survived two days, which was very sad.

In 1952, John was born, and in 1954 a second son Max arrived. She was advised not to have any more children for a while so it was 1959 when daughter Helen was born, the final addition to the family and the apple of her father's eye.

1959 was also a year of sadness for Myra, as she lost her older brother Eddie, my father, to Hodgekins lymphoma in October that year. She had been close to Eddie, and he had been protective of her in her younger days, and being eight years older looked after her.

In 1965 Charlie and Myra expanded their property holding, buying 200 acres of "Hope Wood" adjoining "Willow Vale" from Wilton Curll. Later on they were able to buy other properties for John and Max to give them a bit of a start on the land, and helped Helen

with the deposit to buy her first home in Newcastle.

Life on the land was not easy, with floods, then fires. In 1979 a big bush fire burnt about 2/3 rd of the farm and that was a big blow, losing sheep and cattle as well as a lot of fencing, timber etc. The following year they moved into Yass, letting John and Max form a partnership to run the farm and build it to what it is today.

Myra participated in many activities in the town. Around 1960 she recalled helping to build a huge white swan for the Woolonwealth week procession, putting thousands of white serviettes onto a wire netting base.

She was in the RSL Women's Auxiliary for more than forty years, and though she did not want to be, she was Treasurer for 6 years and President for 7 years. I am sure they raised a lot of money with her in charge. She was proud of her Certificate of Merit for her service.

She loved her grandchildren and looked after them often and they loved spending time with her and Pop.

Her big hobby was knitting. I was the very pleased recipient of two of her jumpers, one which I still wear on special occasions. In the early 80's she bought a knitting machine and became expert in that too, though it looked pretty complicated to me. She knitted for many people, and won many prizes for her knitting at the Shows. She joined the craft shop, and you could often find her working in the craft shop if you were passing through Yass.

In their retirement, Myra and Charlie travelled quite a lot. They went across the Nullabor to Perth and back, and on other tours to the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. In 1987 they had their big trip overseas. Charlie broke his leg just before they went, but went anyway complete with crutches, so that must have made the trip more difficult for Myra. They went to see Wales where the Hedges emigrated from, and toured all over England and Scotland. A highlight was going to Finland to see John married to his second wife.

Later, a bad knee slowed Myra down and she had a knee replacement in 1996. She loved her garden and the garden at Hovell Street was a credit to her even when not as mobile as she once was. You could never leave after a visit without going away with veggies, eggs jam etc.

Myra was quiet, competent, and caring, and those who relied on her were never disappointed. Well done Myra.

Part three: spoken by Charles

As I am supposedly helping to look after Charlie today, I thought I would speak a few words on his behalf as well as my own.

Charlie always tells, even now, that Myra did a great job looking after the money and bookwork, and he did most of the farm work, as he liked farm life. He also said, jokingly, he always did as he was told. Charlie had a great respect for Myra, for all that she did, and maybe for putting up with him for so long. It doesn't seem that long ago I was in Yass for their 60th wedding anniversary.

I remember Myra, and Charlie as well, being there to support my mother at the time of my father's death. My mum and Myra got on quite well together.

I can also remember Myra's ability as a tennis player, with our families having many Saturday afternoons together playing competition and social tennis.

Myra cared for Charlie as long as she could at home, but it reached a point where he was better off being in Linton, while she was able to cope on her own with some home help. She had also looked after her mother when she moved out to Willowvale in the latter years of her life until Nanna died at 88.

She told me recently that she had a very good relationship with her father. Not so good a relationship with her mother when she was younger. She had the impression that whatever she did of her own accord was the wrong thing. She bought a brown hat once which disappeared soon after.

Nanna passed on her cooking skills to Myra, and she knew I loved her cake and mostly had some for me whenever I visited. Her sponge cake was to die for, 12 eggs, with heaps of butter and sugar, were the main ingredients, and it was often filled with home made jam and cream.

Myra has passed a lot of her cooking skills on to her children, as well as her high moral and work ethics. She was a happy, friendly lady who enjoyed a good joke and laughed a lot.

She was really disappointed about not being able to renew her licence at the age of 89. She had felt independent with her car.

She remained in her home until last year, maintaining her independence and being able to look out to Willow Vale from her lounge room. She went to Horton House in July 2011 for some respite and while there had a trip to hospital. She was not well but rallied around. She moved to Linton (where Charlie is) in August 2011. Over the past six months her health deteriorated dramatically. She was admitted to Yass Hospital on Saturday January 14 and passed away peacefully on Tuesday January 17 with family by her side.

May she rest in peace, after a long full life, with many joys and sorrows, a lady we will still hold dear in our hearts.

A tribute from Yass/Boorowa Legacy: Bob Richardson

I recently spoke to several older Yass/Boorowa Legacy members and some older district war widows. I was advised that Myra and Charlie Hedges were very active in support of both Yass RSL and Legacy for many years. In particular, Myra was an active RSL Auxiliary supporter for many years, and she was also a strong supporter of Legacy in hosting many post World War 2 Legacy Ward children who travelled to Yass from Sydney for occasional weekend and school holiday periods.

There were many NSW children whose fathers had been killed during the Second World War, and indeed quite a few orphans that were assisted by Legacy after the war. Several Yass/Boorowa Legacy families, including the Shannons, the Grahams, the Hedges and others, hosted visits to the district by Legacy ward groups from Sydney.

Myra Hedges often had such children to stay, and they visited farms, had picnic and boating outings to Lake Burrinjuck, and Yass river barbecues. So Myra and other Legacy ladies provided wonderful support to these children over many years.

On behalf of Yass/Boorowa Legacy and Yass RSL, I'm pleased to pay tribute to Myra Hedges for her strong support to the children of deceased Australian Servicemen.