Life is changed not ended

Sybella Theresa Rodda

Born 8 February 1926, Entered eternal life 5 October 2021

Eulogy written and shared by members of the family

Sybella Theresa Rodda was born in Warrnambool 95 and a half years ago on 8th February 1926 to Alice and Harry, joining sisters Margaret (Peggy) and Mary (Mollie). There was already a tradition to shorten the girls’ birth name to an everyday one, so Sybella’s original name became Billie. When she added her Confirmation name Anne, she cleverly became a Star! Joe was born not long after and he had a ready- made defender and champion in Billie, right up to his passing, when she read at his Requiem Mass, in 2012.

Mollie, Peggy and Billie all spoke fondly of their early life though it was not without hardship. Billie finished school after Year 8 despite, as the others had done, gaining a scholarship to go further. Alice was unwilling, as she put it, to accept charity. We can only wonder how much more all three could have accomplished!

Like her two elder sisters, Billie left Warrnambool for Melbourne, where she had a varied and impressive working career. Her nieces remember visiting her office in Collins Street when visiting for a shopping expedition and playing on her typewriter.

Billie lived with family in Southern Road and we were all intrigued with the fancy bed with the fold-up legs! She enjoyed sharing in family life, with regular visits for birthdays, religious ceremonies and the like.  Our cousin Brian, in Sydney, recalls Billie taking out his Mum, Auntie Bobbie and Ma for a Chinese meal. They both said it was the first time they had eaten foreign food!

Billie and Margaret, after many renting misadventures, bought an ‘own-your-own’ flat in Bentleigh. She still maintained her visits to Mollie’s family, despite the long train journey into town and then out again on the bus. Some of the younger members of the family probably have no idea that Billie once had a car that lived in our backyard in Southern Road but was driven more often by our Dad; in fact we don’t recall Billie ever getting her licence. She was happy to cope with public transport for many more years, but things were about to change.

Sometime around the “Bentleigh years” she met Frank McPhie on a goldfields sightseeing day trip. They courted for many years before finally marrying in December 1974, when she moved from being Star to Stamp! She moved from Bentleigh to Box Hill, although it took her some time to stop calling the Elgar Road address ‘Frank’s house.’  Billie loved Frank’s well-established garden which she was able to make her own too. Frank took her bird watching; she discovered a new found love of nature and the Australian bush. We all knew Billie would feed magpies on minced meat and how they would tap on the door if she forgot.

All of us have memories of great dinners with Billie and Frank. She loved to entertain; her cooking skills were unmatched and nothing was too much for her passion for cooking and food. Whether it be for birthdays, Easter, Christmas, or anything in-between, the plate, or plates, that she brought, would always be the first to go. Billie’s time working in a cake shop when she was younger, under an extremely fussy boss, was where she learnt quite quickly how to decorate a cupcake in her own unique way and this became her signature. Many of the different dishes Billie made were attempted to be replicated, with the common response being “it’s good, but not as good as Billie’s.” Billie also enjoyed taking her nieces out to some wonderful places to experience refined dining such as at the RACV club, The Savoy Hotel, The Flower Drum and many more.

When Frank died suddenly in the early eighties, Billie was understandably distraught. She started attending bereavement groups and made many new friends.  She cherished the relationships she had with Lesley, Betty and Pat, as well as with Jack and Graeme, old work colleagues from CIC, and Graeme‘s wife Noelle. Jeff was a trusted neighbour. It gave her great joy spending time with each and every one of them, and being able to see her sit back and relax with her friends, after ensuring everyone else she knew was okay first, was the perfect reward. As a war widow, she liked visiting RSL clubs and was a member of the RACV Club at Healesville, having worked in the city with that organization many years previously.

Billie stayed at Elgar Road for quite some time, until selling up when it became too difficult to maintain. She moved into a smaller unit, still in Box Hill South, where she had a good base of contacts and friends. She loved her new space, and continued life as before.

Billie volunteered at Box Hill Hospital and later at Mercy Private which became St. Vincent’s Private; volunteering there quickly became her life. She took her role very seriously and maintained the patients’ confidentiality strenuously! Billie especially liked seeing premature babies progressing from intensive care to going home and was often a shoulder to lean on for many distressed or bewildered parents and visitors.  Her time at St Vincent’s was her vocation, so much so that she was put forward for a stamp in the Year of the Volunteer – how ironic, given her initials! The staff at St. Vincent’s were so impressed with her interaction with patients that, given she was about to reach that milestone, they managed to change the retiring age for volunteers from 90 years, a long held policy, to 100 years.

Sadly her time at St. V’s was the reason for the beginning of her decline. On her way there, one morning, she fell awkwardly; luckily quite close to the hospital. As Billie was being helped along the footpath, a butterfly flew past them and the hospital worker assisting her commented on how lovely it was. Billie’s response was that it was her husband Frank, who was looking after her.  She suffered physically and physiologically from the fall, and it took a long time and a lot of physical therapy to get her back to her best. She was devastated to give up her hospital work, and the staff have told us how much they missed her, still recalling her dedication.

It was then Billie decided to move into Broughtonlea, so she was “still able to choose where I wanted to go and under my own steam”. She had some very happy times there and was still pleased to see the family for various occasions, rejoicing in spending time with not only her nephew and nieces, but also her numerous great nephews and nieces and all the respective partners. She had even become a great-great auntie to Tom, Annie, Shaylah, Star, Radheka, Henok, Izzy and Jack, Johnny and Tahlia, who reminded us that she loved seeing Billie because she could have ice cream! From all accounts, Billie was a very popular resident at Broughtonlea and she would speak constantly about the kindness of the staff and residents, always appreciative of the care and assistance they gave her.

The past year had been a difficult one for Billie, undergoing several trips to hospital and enduring discomforts in many forms. Her last big family outing was at Easter, when we all realized she was fading. And now we are here, to salute a life well lived.

“Say not in in grief she is no more, but live in thankfulness that she was“