Alice Mabel Strutt Bray

This evening sitting in the lounge: Vi (daughter-in-law about her mother in law)

"She was difficult to live with... and she had good things about her too. For all she called you (looking at Glenn - her grandson) "The Brass Band" she made you overalls! I didn't sew then and I was pleased to have them."

"She was a very upset lady when she came to us. Her husband had just died. They (I haven't yet established who) burnt all her photo albums before they brought her to us. She was very upset about that. They didn't tell me they were bringing her to stay with us. They just brought her. I had Wally and Phyl's kids with me. Luckily they took their kids with them. I had to put her (Alice) in the room with Brenda. But she smoked so much, and would be up in the night and Brenda couldn't stand it. So we moved Brenda onto the verandah. Glenn and Brenda shared a room until they got older. Dennis later made a porch for Glenn to sleep in."

"She used to sit in the kitchen and knit and sew. I used to go in and say goodnight to her... I knew she just wanted to talk. She would talk and talk and I just listened. She asked me why I was praying. I was listening with my hands in a praying position. I just prayed that she would finish talking! I had heard the stories before. In the end I would say 'Well, I'm off to bed Mom'"

"If I had known better then, I would have been kinder to her. I ask forgiveness for how I treated her."