VALE WE RECORD, WITH REGRET, THE FOLLOWING DEATHS
Melissa Jane Batt 24 April 1960 – 16 June 2015 Clyde 1973-1975, GGS Clyde House 1976-1977
Suzanne Joyce Knight (Tallis) 7 November 1930 – 19 March 2011 Clyde 1943-1948
Sally Anderson Bennett (Skene) 13 January 1949 – 1 June 2015 Clyde 1962-1966
Diana Florence Learmonth (Austin) (Nicholas) 30 November 1924 – 13 July 2015 Clyde 1935-1942
Ruby Elizabeth Jean Berrell (Dunstan) (Leggo) 7 December 1917 – 1995 Clyde 1930-1931
Margaret Watkinson Ryan (Moore) 5 April 1919 – around 2000 Clyde 1929-1935
Jillian Elizabeth Boldiston (Meares) 20 August 1950 – 1 November 2014 Clyde 1964-1967
Joan Elizabeth Sargood (Withers) 29 March 1931 – 3 May 2015 Clyde 1941-1948
Joan Irving Crouch (Caldwell) 8 November 1910 – 1 February 2003 Clyde 1926-1927
Noela Mary Shannon (Adams) 21 December 1920 – 10 June 2015 Clyde 1938
Mary El Effendi (Keenan) (Burt) 14 January 1915 – 9 September 2014 Clyde 1930-1931
Mavis Jean Tottenham (Harkness) 24 January 1922 – 23 January 2015 Clyde staff – 1940s and 1970s
Kiera Alison Foletta (Stranaghan) 19 April 1920 – 23 February 2015 Clyde – house and teaching staff 1971-1976
Elizabeth Waters (Trinca) (Ashbolt) 3 April 1926 – 27 September 2014 Clyde 1941-1942
Naida Bonita Hartwig (Chaffey) 3 May 1919 – 29 August 2014 Clyde 1935-1936
Serena Mary Wood 17 November 1959 – 27 June 2012 Clyde 1969-1974
Christina Karen Sandford Hindhaugh (Beggs) OAM Elspeth Anne Woolcott (Thompson) 17 February 1944 – 31 July 2015 15 May 1928 – 28 May 2015 Clyde 1957-1961 Clyde 1941-1944 lived in Geelong and Torquay. The children roamed freely outdoors at the family’s historic Geelong homestead Raith, enjoying adventures in the 2.5 acre garden with its giant cypress hedge. However, from 1961 to 1966 the Batt family moved to live in Scotland while Melissa’s father trained and qualified as an orthopaedic surgeon at the Edinburgh College of Surgeons. At age five Melissa spent six months at a primary school in Edinburgh before returning to Australia where she was enrolled as a primary student at Morongo. She made headline news in the Geelong Advertiser with a full page photo of her in the eggand-spoon race on school sports day.
OBITUARIES Melissa Jane Batt 24 April 1960 – 16 June 2015 Clyde 1973-1975 GGS Clyde House and Timbertop 1976-1977 Melissa Jane Batt was born on 24 April 1960, the youngest of three children born to Dr Erina Batt (Lowson) and Dr Vernon Batt, an orthopaedic surgeon. Melissa’s two older brothers were Michael (b1955) and Peter (b1957). Originally from Scotland, Melissa’s mother Erina Lowson was one of four children brought up in Singapore Johore Bahru, where her father Dr Lowson was a colonial doctor in the Malaysian Medical Service. The Lowsons moved to Australia in 1940 when Japan invaded Singapore. The family settled in Geelong, near The Geelong College where they had friends and connections. Melissa’s mother Erina attended Morongo as a day student, although she always dreamt of boarding at Clyde, believing it to be the ideal school.
Melissa had a form of hearing dyslexia so her parents later moved her to a school more suited to her needs. St Andrews Primary School (now GGS Bostock House) was run by Miss Wood and Miss Helen Wood, educators who believed in teaching and encouraging children within their capabilities. Melissa participated well and enjoyed playing football with the boys at recess time. She rode her bike to school and would take a short cut through The Geelong College prep school,
Melissa’s parents were married in January 1954 and 35