Janice Avery

During Jan’s younger years, her siblings began calling her ‘Tad’, a nickname that is still used to this day. ‘Tad’ had an interesting origin: the nickname ‘Tadpole’ was originally bestowed upon brother Gerald who didn’t like it and passed it on to Jan when she said there was nothing wrong with it. ‘Tadpole’ was quickly shortened to ‘Tad’.

In her late teens, a young chap named Barry Avery, who at the time Jan’s brother described as a hooligan, swept her off her feet and in 1959 at the age of seventeen she was married. The initial years of her marriage were spent in Rollands Plains where Barry had a job in a sawmill.

This must have been a trying time for the young Janice. She had a baby to raise — her daughter Jenny — and this was done in a small weatherboard cottage that had no electricity or running water, and definitely no inside toilet. Yet she spoke of those days without bitterness and perhaps even with a degree of fondness.

The time in Rollands Plains was fortunately short after which a period was spent share-farming in Gum Scrub, during which their son Tony was born.

A change came in 1967 that set Janice, with Barry, on the path she would follow for the rest of her life. In that year, they began dairy farming on a property in Pembroke that ultimately became their own. Janice and Barry transitioned into beef cattle on a property they had purchased in Rosewood and in 1996 they made that property their home.

Over the past months, Jan had been passionately involved in planning a new home to be built on the Pembroke property, Rosewood having been sold. Tragically, she will not get to enjoy what would have been a much more relaxed chapter in her life.

Jan developed an admirable knowledge of farming over the years and, when her health permitted, did hard physical work on the land. Beyond that, she was essentially the manager of the properties, looking after the financial and administrative side of things. She carried on these roles right through to the very end.

On top of her skill as a farmer, Jan was also a very good cook. I can still savour the roasts she prepared on our visits and she did a pretty good caramel tart amongst other delicious cakes and the like.

During her life on the land, Jan’s son and daughter married and in due course she became a grandmother. Jan had great affection for her four granddaughters: Melinda and Angela, and Jayde and Tyla — an affection that was well and truly reciprocated. There is a plaque by the back door to the Avery house at Rosewood — which I suspect was put there by one of the granddaughters — which reads: There is no place like home; except Nanna’s. And the granddaughters were frequent visitors to that place.

Granddaughters Melinda and Angela have married and in the last years of her life Jan became a great-grandmother four times over, something that gave her great pride and joy.

In 1980, when she was only halfway through her life, Jan was diagnosed as suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. This had a devastating effect on her physically as many of you will have observed. Her life after being afflicted with this crippling disease entailed numerous doctors’ visits and a mind-boggling amount of medication. Yet she bore all of this with extraordinary stoicism and never complained. Back in the Pembroke days she would be back helping Barry on the farm once medication had the ‘Arthur’ as she used to call it under control.

Jan enjoyed travelling and while Barry was not so keen, they had some holidays together including in Northern Australia and New Zealand. They also did a caravan trip to Birdsville with friends. In 2019, Rhonda and I managed to drag Jack away from the farm and with Janice we did a tour of Tasmania. A particular requirement of each day’s itinerary was that we had to be settled in accommodation in time to watch The Bold and the Beautiful. But they had a great holiday and it was fun enjoying it with them.

Jan’s love of travel has seemingly been imparted on her son Tony who is also an avid traveller.

Over the past decade, Jan developed a passion for horse racing. This interest no doubt stemmed from her daughter Jenny’s involvement as a trainer. Horse racing gave her enormous pleasure and again her knowledge of it was outstanding. I recall in-depth conversations with Jan when she would delve into the intricacies of the sport. She had long phone conversations with her brother Gerald during which horse racing was invariably the only topic.

Jan had an uncomplicated outlook on life and not long ago she and Rhonda were having a chat about how they would like to end their days. Jan, who by then had had a knee replacement, commented that if she went soon it would save having to get the other knee done. Sadly, a prophetic statement.

Jan could be very direct when communicating with you and she was not afraid to convey her thoughts on a matter. It used to cause us to chuckle when woman of the world Rhonda would relate something that Jan would not have experienced or had no knowledge of, on which occasions Jan would utter ‘that can’t be right’ or ‘you’re making that up’. Another oft heard expression when in conversation with her daughter was ‘Jennifer, don’t be ridiculous’.

I think it is fair to say that Jan had what was at times a hard life. Yet she was always happy, thoroughly enjoyed the love and respect of her husband, children, grandchildren and other family members, took pleasure in the company of her extensive network of friends, and as such was a very contented person. But she was also a very giving person: unselfish and undemanding.

I hope that with this eulogy I have illuminated what a remarkable lady Janice was. And I am sure that you will agree that all of us who have known and loved Jan have had our lives enriched.