Funeral Notices

TO AN ANGEL

‘AUNTY HARRIET’

Feather beds. Fruit Flans. Cups of tea in the warm kitchen. Loving hugs. Hearty laughter! Tinkling voice. Sage advice. Un conditional love. Family..These are only a few of our favorite things.

Dearest Heinz, Teresa, Gregory, Andrea, Anthony and families.
Our love and prayers are with you all as we remember and celebrate the wonderful life of our beloved Harriet.

In loving memory from Warwick, Corrine, Roslynne, Prue and on behalf of Russell & Noelle,
The Archers
Your “other” family!

To the Sauter family

With deepest sympathies for your loss. She will always be with you, shining down on you and the family to guide and protect you.

In loving memory may she rest.

Sincerely
Lisa Adamo, Melbourne

Mum was born Harrietta Lewis in Wairoa on the East Coast of the North Island, New Zealand on the 29th May 1932.
Mum was the first child of nine children born into Maori whanau of the Ngati Hine Mihi tribe. Mum was very proud of her Maori heritage and never forgot where she came from. She always said that when she passed away we were to return a little bit of her back to New Zealand and that we promise you mum.
Mum was brought up by her Maori Nanny in Wairoa (as most Maori families looked after their own) but her nanny couldn’t continue looking after her as she was too poor. Mum then had a brief stay with her mother and step-father, then lived with her Uncle Horace and Aunty Patty and cousins in Gisborne (who also had a large family to support). She went to Manutuke Primary School and had to ride her bike 9 miles which included going through a cemetary which she said she always peddled real fast through. In her teens she ended up being fostered by the Haskins family that had an orange grove in Gisborne (and we all know mum would have been in heaven as she loved fresh fruit). The Haskins family were Seven Day Adventists and they sent her to Palmerston North Seven Day Adventist College. When mum finished college, she enrolled into a Nursing course and completed her training in Obstetrics at the Gisborne Hospital. Mum always loved babies and children and all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren would agree that Nanny smothered them with love (and food) all their lives.
In the mid-1950s Mum and her best friend, Cathy, decided to travel the world. First stop was Sydney, Australia (on their way to England). They made a stopover in Melbourne and mum’s girlfriend Cathy was asked out on a date by a German guy named Kurt and, as she didn’t want to go alone, she organised a double date and made mum to come with her, so, you guessed it, the other German guy was Heinz. Sadly, Cathy returned back to New Zealand as her mother had taken ill and happily mum and dad were married. They were married at St Margaret’s in Eltham. They then lived with dad’s parents, Andreas and Irma Sauter, on their farm at St Helena, Victoria, where they had three children, Teresa, Greg and Andrea. Sadly, Mum wasn’t able to continue her obstetric nursing career as Victoria didn’t recognize her New Zealand training. They then bought their own farm at Kangaroo Ground where Anthony was born.
In 1969 they sold the farm and moved to Diamond Creek. Mum started work with her father-in-law, Andreas, at VDO putting together electronic parts for truck dashboard dials and then she got a job at Thorn Atlas as a Quality Control Manager, building the digital boards for TV’s (at some stage during that time she also worked at a shoe factory). All throughout our school days mum was on every known committee for our school or sports, and made a real difference to help those in the community. Mum always had a lot to give.
In 1973 mum and dad made another move to the Geelong seaside, as the sea air was meant to be good for Andrea who suffered with asthma. Here they bought a Mixed Business Shop in Geelong West (mum could talk to her hearts content). They had to change their allegiance as one-eyed Collingwood supporters to Geelong supporters as they were apparently strongly advised by Frank Costa, who owned the local green grocers, that to fit into the local community you had to support the local footy team (though if Geelong was losing they would barrack for Collingwood quietly).
After 2 years, they sold the mixed business and moved to Bell Post Hill, still in Geelong. This is when mum took up ceramic and porcelain painting. Dad helped her set up a workshop in the garage where she had a teaching studio. She then found the love of making wedding cakes and made hundreds of cakes over the years.
Greg started playing rugby for Geelong and to stop mum from running alongside him on the grounds yelling at the players to get off her son, Greg told mum that they needed help in the canteen, that was to stop her embarrassing him. After the game mum would take home the team’s dirty jumpers to wash, or mum and dad would be busing the Geelong team around Victoria. When the club got into financial difficulty, mum got all the woman together and formed the Geelong Rugby Club Catering Service and after being hired out to all kinds of functions, made enough money to buy the Geelong Rugby Ground. Mum and Dad were recognized for all their hard work and were made Life Members (though they loved every moment of it). Mum also joined the Ladies Bell Post Hill Bowls Club and was the Committee Secretary.
Over the years, mum and dad have made many close friends:
St. Helena – Ula & Karl Knorr, Mr & Mrs Shuster, Mrs & Mrs Evans, Italia (Italian family up the road) – mum taught her how to speak English
Kangaroo Ground – Christa & Andrew Baumann, Pat & Hugh Edwards, Phil & Pat Greenham, Margaret & Frank Mitchell (I married their son 15 years later)
Diamond Creek – Russell & Noelle Archer, Ray & Gladys Matheson
Geelong – Peg & Charlie Bubb, Hilary & Gerry Thornton, Tony & Genie Mathews, Roslyn & Dennis Mathews, Enid & Ray, Paul & Sue Standtard, Bill & Sarah Aldous, Arihi & Dudley Kirkland.
Their last move was to Thurgoona, Albury, where mum and dad enjoyed retirement – playing bowls, bingo and the pokies. Mum won a jackpot on the pokies the first week they had moved up – she couldn’t believe she had won $66,000. They asked her what her address was and phone number but she couldn’t remember because they had only just moved so she had to ring her daughter Andrea to find out!
As mum and dad had more time with retirement, they decided to buy a caravan and trip around Australia. I think they got as far as Queensland and then came home as they missed their grandchildren. That didn’t stop them doing small trips and one they absolutely loved was going up to Lightning Ridge and opal mining. They would make camp at their opal mine and stay for the Winter. They didn’t make their millions and that allusive opal seam just evaded them but that was ok as they had a great time enjoying the great outdoors which is why they made Australia home.
Mum was a brave and courageous women. While living on the farm at Kangaroo Ground she saved us kids from a tiger snake biting us as she grabbed an axe from the wood pile and chopped its head off. We were happily playing on the swings. She kept us safe during the 1969 bush fires that ravaged the bush around Kangaroo Ground (Dad was picking up supplies in the city) by driving us to the neighbours and sitting in their dam until it was all clear. She also took on a burglar at Bell Post Hill. She came home to find the front door wide open and could hear someone inside. She rushed in and yelled at the top of her voice “you better get out of here as the police are on their way”. The back door could be heard opening and our dog, Strawberry, the blue heeler was attacking the robber while he jumped the fence. All mum really wanted was to get to the toilet as she was busting to go. She locked herself in there and waited until dad came home!
Mum had a creative side and also loved to sew and made mine and Andy’s wedding and bridemaid’s dresses. She also made millions of tracksuit tops and pants for every family member. She would whip up a pair for each grandchild, Bryce, Leonnie, Kerrie, Ben, Anthony, Rebecca and Balen, within an hour of visiting.
Mum loved her cooking – flans, fruit cake, German apple cake, pavlovas plus bottling all her own fruit from apricots to pears, peaches to tomatoes. Her real love was making wedding cakes.

Mum also loved to read. Her favorites were murder mysteries and science fiction. My Aunty Shewie in New Zealand said she remembered mum as a teenager, reading a book in one hand, churning the butter with the other and rocking a child in a pram with her foot. Mum’s mantra was everything will be fine and don’t stress and yes everything was always fine.
Our home had an open door with lots of family from New Zealand and Germany visiting, sometimes for months. We always had friends dropping in for a cuppa and a chin wag. One year we had my cousins over for Christmas with a few of their airforce mates as well. Mum loved playing 500 card game, particularly with her cousin Hana, who was her partner in crime. We would have our cousins Simon and Tommy stay during the school holidays which was pretty special. She was a mother to not only her own children but to also many other children in the neighbourhood and baby sat many children who absolutely adored her – you know who you are.
2012 was the start of the 4th generation of great grandchildren – Stewart, Hannah, Jessica, Haley, Luke and Chloe and so the circle of life continues.
We have had many messages from all our family and friends who have shared lots of memories of mum and those that have been mentioned is that mum was welcoming, friendly, happy, caring and gave unconditional love, so that just about sums up OUR MUM.
Dad will miss you terribly and all your family but we know you were tired and it was time to go. Rest in peace mum. Forever in our hearts.