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Vale Mary Prendergast

Over the years, I have met Kilbreda past pupils going all the way back to the very first day, 8 August, 1904! Not too many years ago, there were quite a number of past pupils from the 1920s around. Sadly, though, in the passing of Mary Allen (née Prendergast) last week, we have lost our last past pupil from this period (to my knowledge).

Mary died recently at the age of 97. I believe she would have been 98 later in the year. Up to the age of about 94, she was still a regular at Woodlands Golf Club, where she was a life member, playing golf and then, when she was no longer able to play golf, playing bridge.

Mary started at Kilbreda in 1929 and finished in Grade 6 in 1932. The family lived next to Kilbreda on Como Parade in a house which was situated near to where the carpark gate is now.

Mary’s father Edward P (Ted) Prendergast, was a lawyer who provided legal advice and assistance to the Brigidines over a number of years. He was instrumental in getting the convent out of financial difficulties during the Great Depression. A community-minded individual, he features in the list of donors contributing significant amounts to the College and other local causes. He was at various times the President of the Victorian Golf Association, vice-President of the Mordialloc Soldiers’ Club and President of the Parish Ball Committee; his wife being equally busy on committees such as the one that organised the Kilbreda Gala Dance in November 1935. Mary herself served on various committees, too, remaining active in various groups well into her 90s.

When I last visited her, at her Sandringham home,  Mary was 94. I had to make an appointment as she was rarely home when I dropped by. Her Requiem Mass was celebrated on Monday 16 March at Sacred Heart in Sandringham and she was buried with her husband Norm at the New Cheltenham Cemetery.

Mary’s sisters, Patricia and Margaret, were also students at Kilbreda, as was her younger brother who attended Kilbreda in the 1930s and sadly died, aged 23 in 1954. Michael, a law student, was a passenger in a car which crashed in McCrae, and was killed instantly. Mary, who proudly showed a photo of Michael in his Kilbreda uniform and later as a student at St Bede’s, was still emotional about her beloved brother some 70 years later.

Damian Smith

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Image Gallery: Convent donations and Mary's Wedding