Gwen Lawty: A well-respected, generous woman of community spirit

On Friday, October 29, 2021, Gwenda Mary Lawty (Gwen), wife of the late Edwin Lawty (Ted), mother of Peter, Kevin and Douglas (dec), mother-in-law of Elmira and Trish, passed away at the age of 86.

Gwenda Mary Sadler was born at Wee Waa Hospital on March 28, 1935, the second child of Keith and Rita Sadler.

Keith and Rita’s eldest child, Herb, was born in 1933.

Gwen and Herb lived in Mitchell Street, Wee Waa with her paternal grandmother Nana Sadler and her children, Bally and Clare.

Gwen and Herb lived there until her sister Betty was born in 1936.

Around that time in the early 1940s the family moved to the property ‘Woolangabba’.

The farm was located on the Wee Waa Road and owned by local dentist Hart Wall.

Gwen’s father Keith worked on the property as a farm manager, and it was here that Herb and Gwen started their education by correspondence with help enlisted from local Wee Waa teacher Nellie Bell.

After this move, Keith became quite ill and when he was no longer able to continue to work at the farm, the family moved to 206 Maitland Street, Narrabri and the three children attended Narrabri Public School with Gwen and Betty both starting in first class together.

Later, the family moved to a poultry farm on the Kaputar Road when Gwen was about fourteen.

Gwen and Betty used to ride their bikes from the farm to town, which would have been quite a trek for them with an approximately eight-kilometre run into town.

Gwen left high school when she was 15-years-old and her first job was working in the office at W Foxe and Co, a general store in the main street of Narrabri, in those days famously known to many locals as ‘the big corner store’.

Not long after this, the family moved once again, to 18 Barwan Street.

Gwen continued to work at W Foxe and Co until one day she decided on a change of direction.

Gwen began working for local seamstress Mrs Fowler, and this career path became a newfound interest.

Betty soon decided to join Gwen in the dressmaking business and henceforth both girls learnt their trade – and became very good at it.

Gwen and Betty later started to work for themselves from the family home in Barwan Street.

It was around this time that Gwen met her future husband-to-be, Ted Lawty.

Ted and Gwen were married on October 3, 1955, and lived with Keith and Rita in the Barwan Street home until they completed the building of their own home in Violet Street.

In 1957 their first son Peter was born, followed by Kevin in 1958 and Douglas in 1959.

Family life continued with its routine, with Ted working hard as a builder and Gwen very busy with raising the three boys whilst at the same time continuing with her seamstress work.

Ted was already a keen gardener at this stage and Gwen soon followed suit, developing a new interest in gardens and landscaping, a passion which would last for many years.

Gwen was a devoted and loving mother.

She soon became one of the original ‘soccer mums’ when the three boys took up the sport, and she would drive them to Gunnedah every Saturday to play.

Sadly, Douglas passed away in 1978.

Life was extremely busy for Ted and Gwen, and yet the couple soon developed a new interest – this time a passion for showing birds.

A menagerie of exotic budgies, finches and parrots found their new home at Violet Street and this hobby proudly saw the launch of the Narrabri Bird Club.

Gwen took on the job of secretary/treasurer of the club starting in around 1980 and continued in this role until the club was disbanded 30 years later.

At around the same time, Gwen also decided to take up cake decorating and became very talented at it.

She made many special occasion cakes, and local residents will have fond memories of Gwen, who quite often supplied both the dresses for the wedding party and the wedding cakes to many brides-to-be.

Weddings became another interest, and on Saturdays Gwen and close friend Helen Jones would often visit weddings held around the town and would sometimes attend up to three weddings a day – always from the wrong side of the fence.

In 1989 Gwen was proud to become a grandmother with the birth of Felicity, followed later by her grandson Mitchell, the daughter and son of Kevin and Patricia Lawty.

Both children spent many hours at Gwen’s home, and she duly showered them with all the love that only grandmothers can muster, and this continued throughout their lives until Gwen passed away.

Gwen, along with daughter in-law Trish and close friend Dawn Armstrong, launched the Narrabri Show Ladies’ Auxiliary in 1989.

This group was started to supply meals to patrons attending the annual Narrabri show, and the group of dedicated workers still continues with the task.

While Gwen was a willing and extremely hard worker, she was fondly known to be rather an introvert and preferred to stay behind the scenes, humbly working in the background in the showground kitchen rather than serving people at the front counter.

The Lawty family has had a long-standing history of association with the Narrabri Show, as Ted was involved with the construction of the George Foxe pavilion.

In addition, Narrabri Showgrounds proudly hosts the Ted Lawty pavilion in honour of Ted’s many years of dedication to the community, something which continued with Gwen’s involvement in establishing the Ladies’ Auxiliary.

Gwen was awarded a life membership to the Narrabri Show Society and was a patron of the show for more than 30 years.

In 2013 Gwen’s beloved Ted passed away.

There was now a new task – of having to decide which of all the hobbies and ventures started up during the couple’s marriage that Gwen would be able to cope with alone.

Most of the birds were reluctantly given away and the large rose and dahlia gardens were put to lawn to reduce the workload.

Gwen had by this time already given up cake decorating, but she still looked forward to friends dropping in for morning or afternoon tea.

Sadly, the early onset of dementia affected Gwen’s memory.

Daughter-in-law Trish recalls an incident when visiting Gwen in hospital during Gwen’s last few days.

Trish noticed that Gwen was fiddling around very busily with her fingers.

When Gwen next licked her thumb and forefinger it became clear – Gwen was threading a needle and cotton, and she was ‘sewing’.

When asked, Gwen told Trish that she was making a vest, and although there was nothing in Gwen’s hands, Gwen’s immediate retort indicated that it should be obvious to Trish that she was indeed, sewing a vest.

Trish told her that the vest was beautiful.

This is a fond memory for the family of a life well-lived, a life spent doing good deeds for others, a community spirit that still shines through in the legacies that Gwen and Ted have left behind.

Gwen was a modest, generous, and kindhearted woman.

Always there when her family needed her, a devoted mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother.

A grandmother who created memories for her grandchildren of countless hours spent in her company, reaping the benefits of her warmth and wisdom.

Those who knew Gwen will remember the beautiful garments created, the bridal outfits so lovingly put together.

They will remember the magnificently decorated cakes, the beautiful birds and the stunning roses.

And most of all, they will remember a warm, kind heart.

Gwen is survived by son Peter and his wife Elmira, son Kevin and his wife Trish, grandchildren Felicity Clark and Mitchell Lawty, their partners and their children.