obituary
Evelyn Frogley
Born: 12 February 1917
Died: 9 December 2008
GARDENING, cooking and, of course, family, were the threads which connected Evelyn Frogley to her much-loved Badger Creek community.
Mrs Frogley moved to Healesville with husband Norm around 1939, the year they were married, and to Badger Creek in 1956.
She continued to live in the family home after Norm’s death at age 64, in 1982.
Over the years Eve, as she was widely known, was involved in the local state school and church, the Progress Association and Show Society and was a great supporter of the local fire brigade.
No CWA, school or fire brigade cake stall was complete without at least a dozen of her vanilla slices.
They were her specialty.
“Everyone seemed to like them,” she said when the Mail spoke with her on her 90th birthday, two years ago. She wasn’t one to skite.
In fact, not everyone got the chance to like them. As often as not, they were snapped by the fund-raisers well before they made it on to the open market.
There were more than a few knowing smiles when those famous vanilla slices were mentioned among many wonderful memories and tributes at a service conducted on 15 December by celebrant Andrew Henley.
Evelyn Ester Maria Day was born on 12 February 1917 in Epson Surrey, England.
The second of Tom and Hettie Day’s eight children, she came to Australia with her family when she was two.
The family settled in Springvale and although times were tough, particularly during the Depression years, Eve recalled childhood as a happy time.
She worked to help support the family and as a teenager did housekeeping in Melbourne, coming home on weekends to help cook and clean for her own family.
It was while she was working at the Woollen Mills in Yarraville, that she met Roland Hill Frogley – Norm.
The Year 1939 was a significant one. Norm and Eve married on the 10th of June, with war declared Norm joined the airforce and, they moved to Healesville where Norm’s father had bought Healesville Camping Park (HCP) on Badger Creek Road.
Running the park was very much a family affair involving Norm, his brothers Bill and Gerald and sister Connie and their partners.
The women cooked for what would certainly have been happy campers when it came around to meal times.
The business shifted focus after the war turning to the production of H.C.P. (Healesville Cordial Products) soft drinks.
Her boys, Ray, born in 1945, and Morrie in 1947, were her pride and joy and their wives, Jan and Denise became much-loved daughters-in-law, and friends.
She loved and delighted in her grandchildren Kyle, Shane, David and Jessica, and her great grandchildren, Alex, Rhys, Jarrod, Matthew and Luke, and, of course, they loved her back.
David paid tribute to his nan, saying she had been one of the most special and influential people in his life.
He recalled school holidays spending a week or two at his grandmother’s working in the garden and playing scrabble at night.
“We used to spend hours together trying to cheat our way to yet another victory,” he said.
“I don’t know how many times nan told me “oh that dictionary isn’t proper English” and then she would lay down a word that neither I nor the rest of civilization had ever heard of.”
Eve’s Sunday roasts, her sponge cakes, and of course her famous vanilla slices got more than one mention as did her love of gardening.
She was an avid member of the local garden club and a keen competitor in both the garden and cooking sections of local horticultural shows, and a judge as well.
Eve’s innate loving and caring nature endeared her to family, friends and colleagues. Her many kind deeds were carried out in the way she did everything, with a generous spirit, and no fuss. She was a regular visitor to residents of Le Chateau and Holmwood nursing homes for many years.
For the past six years, with her health failing, Eve had been a resident at Yarra Valley Aged Care Facility in Yarra Junction where her family said she received excellent care.Eve died peacefully on 9 December, aged 91.
She is survived by Ray and Morrie, her sisters Margaret and Eileen, brother Bill and her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
– Kath Gannaway
