Dear Arthur,
Sorry I have been so slack.
Yes I did agree to provide more information on my father.
I tried to get his two surviving sisters to tell me about their family,
but I met a very strong adverse reaction from Dot, and Kit prefers to
remain silent. However I have my own childhood memories which only
scratch the surface, but give me an indication of how things were. I
have one more lead to follow up, Moira, daughter of Rose, before I rely
on my own memories. But I can recall
Connie (Constance Ann) advising me that I will need to be a good drinker
to survive Moira!
I have put together what I regard as a brief sketch of my father. I
don't mean this to replace your biography of him, but it does give you
additional information about him, some of which you may choose to use.
I have spent many hours trying to ättach" this to an email, but I can't
understand this computer.
I must have everything configured wrongly.
1909 JOHN LUXFORD CARDEN ("JACK")
Born 6 December 1909 in the White Hart Hotel at Horsham in Victoria's
Western District.
The family moved to Ballarat and Jack was educated at St Aliphius
Primary School and
St Patrick's College. He wanted to study Medicine but realised that his
parents could not afford to send him to University.
Instead he decided, along with his friend John Bongiorno, to join the
Christian Brothers, and entered the Novitiate under the name of Brother
Cornelius. Bongiorno pulled out at the last minute to go into the family
fruit and vegetable business, leaving Jack disillusioned.
He left at the first opportunity and joined the National Bank, where his
father had riseb to the rank of manager.
He was transferred to Shepparton where he met and fell in love with
Marion (Girlie) Halpin,
daughter of Michael and Margaret (nee Keogh).
With the clouds of War gathering Jack was offered a transfer to
Brisbane, a thousand miles away.
They married in St Brendan's Catholic Church in Shepparton on 10 June
1939, and spent their honeymoon travelling to Brisbane and setting up a
home in a rented flat at Lade St, Greenslopes,
a Southern suburb.
Their first child was born in April 1940, and was given Jack's name as
he felt he was destined to die fighting for his Country and his Family
in the War, and he somehow felt that giving his name to his son would
allow him to live on.
In 1941 they returned to Victoria so Jack could enlist in his home
State. Marion and the baby returned to live in the Halpin household in
Shepparton for the duration of the war.
Fortunately he survived and returned to his family and the National Bank
in Shepparton before the end of hostilities in 1945. Their second child
Margaret Ann, was born in February 1946, the first of the Baby Boomers!
Later that year he was transferred to Traralgon in Gippsland, and was at
last able to settle down to family life.
In 1954 he was promoted to the position of Manager of the Portland
Branch of the Bank.
This was the high point of his life, his talent had been recognised and
rewarded. Marion was very proud of him, and he was able to send his
children to boarding schools to complete their Secondary Education.
At the same time due to Marion's modest inheritance from the Halpin's,
Jack found a new interest in life, the Stock Exchange. Together with
his brother-in-law Frank Daly, he immersed himself into what became his
full time interest.
Despite his skills in managing money, it became the greatest worry of
his life. He hated to spend money, to the extent of not allowing his
wife to have an automatic washing machine or allowing himself to own a
car with automatic transmission, as he believed that this new technology
would be unreliable and would be very costly to repair when inevitably
it would break down.
He was a devout Catholic, one of ten children, and Marion also was from
a similarly large family.
Yet he was very disapproving of his children having large families
becaause of the expense involved. Nevertheless, although begrudgingly,
he gave a considerable amount of financial assistance to each of his
children in the problems they faced in raising their larger than usual
families.
In 1969 his lifetime of smoking cigarettes caught up with him and he was
diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. He endured the inevitable
laryngectomy and tracheotomy and all the consequential problems.
His life changed irreversibly. He lived another 20 years in Limbo,
being too afraid take a chance and actually do something. He was never
game to take to overseas trip he had often talked about. It seemed that
he did not believe that medical assistance existed outside Melbourne,
Australia.
Late August 1989 he went down with the flu and was confined to bed for a
few days.
On 31 August the house payment was due, and as Jack was not well, Marion
had to walk down to the bank. It was a long walk now. Years ago a
kilometre or a mile did not seem too far. But now it was. When she got
back, Jack was dead.
He was buried the day before Frances, not after.
Marion continues to live in good health at Highvale Manor. She turned 92
in April and is very mentally alert despite her complaints that she
can't remember things. She now walks with a frame after breakin a hip in
a fall a couple of years ago.
Hope some of this is of assistance.
Regards,
John.