Dulcie and Dorothy McClure

This is a special blog in memory of Dulcie and Dorothy, daughters of Helena ("Nellie") and Teddy D'Ath. Helena was the youngest of Charles and Alice Hardy's four daughters.

Dorothy Dulcie

We were sad to hear recently of the passing in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada of Dulcie at the age of 102. Her sister Dorothy had passed away on 3 May 2014.

Dulcie and Dorothy had married two brothers from Canada, namely Claude and Harold McClure. Following Dorothy's marriage to Harold in Auckland in April of 1939, Dulcie accompanied her sister and her new husband to Canada in 1940. There she met Claude who she married in April 1941.

Dulcie was our special source of much of the Hardy family history. She compiled a tremendous array of information from meticulous research conducted in the 1990s. Dulcie's son Don worked with her in organising this into detailed notes for each family member going back multiple generations. This was clearly a special interest for Dulcie as is evidenced by a quote she included in a note she wrote about her life as follows;

"Remember me in the family tree my name, my days, my strife;

then I'll ride upon the wings of time and live an endless life" GOETSCH

The note mentioned above was written by Dulcie in May of 2006 when she was age 88. She was born on 27th November 1918 at the original Hardy house called Montana, at 34 Mount Albert Rd. Her sister Dorothy ("Dorrie") was born on 4 December 1917.

Helena had married Edward (Teddy) Death (D'Ath) on 7 July 1909 at St Lukes Church, Mount Albert.

Helena and Teddy on their wedding day

Teddy came from a successful farming family from the Karapiro area. It appears he and Helena may have first met when Helena was teaching at the Taotaroa School in Karapiro.

Following his marriage to Helena, Teddy entered into arrangements with Charles Hardy to purchase the original Hardy house and to subdivide a substantial portion of the land around that house. Charles and Alice Hardy moved to a new house they had already built further along Mount Albert Rd.

Dulcie has provided some wonderful recollections of her early days in the old house at Mount Albert. She refers to the house as having "high ceilings and a long hallway from the front door to the back door......... The rest of the property was one big open field which was at the front of the house; the back door of the house faced Mount Albert Rd. The backyard was planted with trees and bushes native to New Zealand."

The Hardy houses on Mount Albert Rd. Montana is the house on the left with the other Hardy house immediately to its right.

Dulcie recalls the sunny porch at the Hardy house. She describes two canvas beds that were on this porch. "In the day time the two beds were pulled up to the ceiling by heavy cords. In the afternoon the beds were lowered in readiness for my sister and I to sleep on. It was great fun sleeping out there."

This photo I took of the house a few years ago shows the sunny porch. As you can see the house was at this time undergoing substantial renovations by the current owners.

Dulcie also recalls her fun times playing with Hardy cousins who lived nearby.

"My sister and I would spend a great deal of time playing with our cousins, who lived next door with grandmother, (grandfather having passed away before I was born). Our two cousins were Stanley (Stan) and Frances (Francie) Spencer, and their mother was Aunt Ada Spencer, who was the jolliest of all in the Hardy family. Francie was born about 6 months prior to me, and all through life we were always great friends. If she wasn't over at our home playing with my sister and I , we were over at grandma's place having great fun, climbing huge trees etc and eating the coconut-ice candy grandma made especially for us children."

Dulcie also shares some recollections of Alice Hardy who married Albert Beazley.

"Aunt Alice had a maid, Jess, also a man/chauffeur to drive her wherever she wanted to go, plus 3 teenage sons, Bert, Fred and Roy, who played various musical instruments....Aunt Alice Beazley had a movie theatre built in the Point Chevalier area. Dorrie and I along with our father and step-mother attended the "Special Opening Night" of this Movie Theatre, it was so special to me, and for once made me feel important. We sat in the front row of the dress circle with Aunt Alice, Uncle Albert and their family members. Later whenever Dorrie and I planned on being in the vicinity of Aunt Alice's theatre she would give us a free (written) pass to attend whatever was showing. It was at those times when presenting the pass to the lady cashier, I felt very proud I had an aunt who owned a movie theatre."

The picture theatre in Point Chevalier no longer operates but the building remains. My mother used to often take me and my sister to this theatre when we were children. I believe that was because of the family connection. No doubt my mother would also have been to the theatre in her younger days. "Bert" Beazley was a successful builder. He and a business partner purchased the land at Point Chevalier and built the theatre in 1928. Bert's son Fred (known as "Radiata Fred") started Beazley Homes which went on to be a very substantial business in New Zealand and Australia. This was thanks to the development by Fred's son Barry of very efficient processes for building high volumes of timber houses using pre-cut timber framework.

Following the very sad death of their mother in July 1924, Dorothy and Dulcie and their father moved from Mount Albert to a house in Pukehana Ave, Epsom. Bert Beazley purchased the Mount Albert Rd house from Teddy.

Teddy subsequently remarried to Nellie Shaw, a nurse from a private hospital in Epsom where he had gone on several occasions for treatment for his asthma attacks. Dorrie and Dulcie attended Royal Oak school and then Epsom Girls Grammar School. After leaving school both girls worked at Bond & Bond Limited. Dorrie was secretary to the manager and Dulcie was the Statement Machine operator.

As mentioned earlier Dorrie met a Canadian serviceman Harold McClure in 1939 and married him in New Zealand. Dulcie joined them in travelling to Canada where she met Claude and in due course married him. So both sisters settled into a new life in Canada with the McClure brothers. Teddy had died in 1939.

Dulcie returned to New Zealand in 1992 in order to attend the 150 year reunion of grandfather George Death's arrival in New Zealand from Suffolk England. She also made a couple of other short visits. Dulcie said that she always regarded New Zealand as her home despite spending the major part of her life in Canada.

The Hardy family members in New Zealand and in England will always be grateful for Dulcie's years of research and her and her son Don's wonderfully compiled records.

Dulcie will "ride on the wings of time and live an endless life."