News from the Archives

Obituaries

Our sincere condolences go to the families and friends of members of our community who have passed away. 

WARREN STONE, FORMER PRINCIPAL

It is with deep sadness we share news about the death of former Kilvington Baptist Girls Grammar School Principal, Warren Stone, who passed away peacefully on Friday 3 May.

Warren Stone was Kilvington’s first male Principal, filling this role from 1974 – 1993. As a passionate supporter of the Arts, he was instrumental in the production of Kilvington’s very first musical in 1975, Gilbert & Sullivan’s H M S Pinafore. The enormous success of the production was the catalyst for Performing Arts becoming the Kilvington flagship program it is today.

Under Warren’s erudite leadership, Kilvington enjoyed a burgeoning reputation as a fine girls’ school. Facilities were expanded and improved during his tenure, buildings were renovated and modernised, Dalton Hall was completed and the current Senior School was built.

 Importantly, Warren grew the School to its highest level of enrolments as a girls school.

Warren maintained a keen interest in Kilvington following his Principalship, attending events and supporting many initiatives. He will be sadly missed.

We extend our deepest sympathy to his children Jonathon, Allison, Peter and Ben and their families.

FRANCIS HELLARD (NEE MAIN), CLASS OF 1961

Passed away on 23 May 2022. Francis’s husband Michael says, “It is my sad role to inform you of the death of my wife Frances on the 23 May. She still attended the occasional reunion and enjoyed catching up with old girls.” 

PAMELA GODFREY (nee BRUNSDON), CLASS OF 1961

Passed away on 21 May 2022. Some words from Pamela’s husband, John Godfrey. 

“It is with a heavy heart I inform the school of my wife’s death. Pamela Brunsdon enrolled at Kilvington from 1948 to 1961.”

Donated memorabilia 

It is always wonderful to receive School items from the past and share these with our alumni. 

BRIDIE VEARING, CLASS OF 2019

Two, four, six, eight – who do we appreciate? Bridie Vearing for generously donating this fetching cheer leading outfit. 

ESTELLE PHILLIPS (NEE ELLIOTT), CLASS OF 1992

A big thank you to Estelle for loaning several uniform items and booklets for the centenary year. We especially love the hand stitched name on her blue sport uniform.

All these items of memorabilia make a wonderful addition to the School archives and we are very grateful to have acquired them.

If you have any items you would like to loan or donate for our centenary display please contact Bianca Lapins at lapinsb@kilvington.vic.edu.au

Alumni news

CLASS OF 1991 CATCH UP

A big thank you to Meikhaela Spooner who organised a Class of 1991 reunion on Saturday 8 October at The Bentleigh Social. 

It was lovely to receive a message filled with history from Joy following our invitation to the Kilvonian Konnections event. 

JOY WILSON, CLASS OF1959

I always look forward to receiving news from Kilvington and visiting on the rare occasions that I get to Melbourne. Although I only spent Year 10 & Year 11 at Kilvington I had a long connection with it due to my parent’s association with Rev William (Bill) Collard and his family. ’Uncle’ Bill was the minister who officiated at my parents wedding and his daughter ‘Billie’ (Wilma) was also a student at Kilvington. 

Later, Billie was my parents’ bridesmaid, then I was Billie’s flower girl. And to continue the connection, Billie’s daughter was my flower girl!

I do have fond memories of my time at Kilvington and it certainly prepared me well for my nursing career. I commenced at Epworth Hospital then, following my marriage, I had the ability to adapt to differing nursing routines and cultures at Sandringham, Seymour and Wodonga Hospitals. Later I also worked at Kurrajong and Blacktown Hospitals in NSW.

I hope to visit Melbourne again before relocating to Queensland where my sons live.  If the opportunity arises I may get to visit once more – maybe with my sister, Robyn Wilson, Class of 1971, who was also a Kilvington kid!

Thanks so much for sharing Joy and our alumni are more than welcome make a visit to school.

We were also delighted to receive a lovely message from Judy below on her memories of Kilvington. 

JUDITH CLARK (NEE TALLENTS), CLASS OF 1959

I began my Kilvington life in 1945 at the Walsh Street building. I must have walked to and from school in the early days but later I rode my bike, even donned the necessary blazer, hat and gloves as I raced to the school gate.

Our Grade level was depicted as Table 1, 2 and so on, held in the large airy room in the main building.  Oddly the only two names I remember from those early days are Mrs Ross, the Head Mistress, and Mrs King, our room teacher.

As the years went by the school grew in numbers and buildings, classrooms with big wooden desks filled the rooms.

The tennis court was the main sport area and sport was always my favourite time - after school tennis lessons were definitely a highlight.

In the early days the school was Church of England and later became Kilvington Girls Baptist Grammar School. A walk up Walsh Street to the Baptist Church was a frequent event for assemblies and church services.

Close to the main building and tennis court was our Tuckshop, run by Mrs Dellar. Snacks and lunches were our special treats.

At some stage the Ormond Plant Farm on Leila Road became the site for the new building – Kilvington was on the move. A walk along Katandra Ave was a daily occurrence as classes were held in both areas.

Mrs McKie, our Head Mistress, along with the other teachers all wore their academic gowns.

If you got in trouble and were sent to the office, Mrs McKie’s first words were always, “you have disgraced the school name”. This sent waves of terror as you stood with your head bowed.

Sport remained my favourite time and aiding Mrs Prince a continual highlight. Selecting and storing sports equipment and convincing others to help out was all part of that sport scene. Choosing teams for fun games was a delight!

Inter-school sport with reports at Assembly made all sport players feel good and we competed in athletics, swimming, netball (girls’ basketball then) and softball. Visits to Ormond Oval and Brighton Baths also come to mind.

Another highlight was the Annual Concert held at the Caulfield Town Hall. Every item was organised by Miss Crab, all calisthenic based with lots of colourful costumes made by our parents. Miss Crab played the piano and taught us the routine at the same time. A great feat!

Speech Night was more formal where a few selected students earned book prizes and there was always a special speaker to spur us girls to greatness!

I finished my school life at the end of 1957. With two years training at Toorak Teachers College I became a Primary Teacher. After working on the Physical Education Staff for two years, teaching swimming and sports skills within schools, I began classroom teaching! I mostly taught Grades 5 and 6 where, of course, sport was a daily happening!

I married in 1962 and moved to Glen Waverley. My husband and I have three children - Kimily, Simon and Jodie. Both girls spent their secondary years at Kilvington. 

All three enjoyed their sport, both at school and at weekends, where I helped with coaching and planning games. Never a surprise that the family loved their sport!

I retired in 1997 and now live on the Mornington Peninsula where golf and walking groups have become my new sports!

Thank you Judy for this wonderful update.

JANE MARTINO (NEE NEWTON), CLASS OF 1995

Congratulations to Kilvonian Jane Martino on being recognised as a Female Founder by Mattel and honoured with a Barbie in her likeness. 

Jane is the founder and chair of Smiling Mind, a non-for-profit web and app-based meditation program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring mindfulness into your life. 

Smiling Mind is a testament to Jane’s vision and hard work and she says, “The work Smiling Mind does is more relevant, more essential than ever. Under the direction of our CEO, Dr Addie Wootten, Smiling Mind provides preventative mental health programs that deliver real generational change for Australian families. I’m incredibly proud of how far we have come in the past decade, and we have so much more to do!”

Well done Jane! You can download the Smiling Mind App here or head to the AppStore or Google Play.

Library book mystery 

We recently received an email from Peter Grant in the UK regarding a wayward Kilvington library book. 

Hi and g'day to you, 

My name is Peter and recently I picked up a humorous book at a charity book stand at a local supermarket here in England. Upon opening it, I was surprised to see a stamp on the inside cover which read; McKie Library, Kilvington Girls Grammar, 2 Leila Road, Ormond. Having been to Australia four times on holiday, I was keen to see where this book had travelled from, so I looked you up and I wonder how it got to England!

I imagine that this book of 'Australian Humour' is probably 'deleted stock', but perhaps not?Anyway, I attach a photo of the memorial gardens in Amersham, Buckinghamshire near where the book has turned up. 

Amersham is around 50km NW of London. Perhaps your Librarian will be interested to know.I hope that someone doesn't have to pay a huge fine for a late book!  The distance from our nearest major cities of Melbourne to London is around 16,800km. Perhaps this is a record? . 

If anyone can shed light on how this book travelled so far please get in touch. We promise all library fines will be cancelled.