Mrs Mary QUINN
Lockyer pioneer Mrs Mary Angela Quinn died last Friday aged 89.Mrs Quinn was the youngest daughter of the late Mary and Harry Redinger of Mount Sylvia. She married Patrick Quinn and together they worked a dairy farm and grazing property at East Haldon where she milked 100 cows by hand twice a day. She also operated a telephone exchange 24 hours a day and when she was unable to contact the subscribers by phone she would ride a horse to their property to deliver their message. Mary was known in the district for working long hard hours and was ready to help anyone in need. She rode in a horse and buggy for 10 miles with her six children to attend Mass every Sunday. Mary later moved to Toowoomba to operate a successful fruit and vegetable business with her son Kevin. Each year she looked forward to the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers where she would be seen in the parade dressed as a leprechaun driving a horse and cart for the Shamrock Ranch. Of her children, Marie, Kathleen, Patricia and Kevin live in Toowoomba, son Paddy lives in Gatton and her youngest, Margaret, in Nambour. Mary has a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Printed in "The Chronicle", Toowoomba 28 April 1993.
Family, community key to Colin’s life
Born: March 29, 1937
Died: April 4, 2003
Colin Quinn is remembered by his family as a wonderful husband, great father and protector, and by others as a listener, adviser, helper and a man always generous with his time.
Born in Pittsworth, Colin William Quinn was the first of five children to Vince and Lucy. Vince worked in the Brookstead area, at one stage an operator for a new road-building technique using a machine now on display at the Jondaryan Woolshed. In 1941, the family purchased "Temora", a dairy farm near Pittsworth and seven years later bought nearby "Oakdale". Colin attended school at Yarranlea, but went to the Pittsworth State School once a week for "rural" subjects and spent a summer at the Queensland Agricultural College. High school was spent as a boarder at St Joseph's College, Nudgee, where Colin excelled in sport and obtained straight A’s in his junior year. He played in the school's Under 15 cricket XI with John Bathersby, now the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane. After school Colin returned to life on the farm, but continued to play local rugby league, playing for both the Valleys and Pittsworth clubs and representing Toowoomba. In 1959, Colin married Denise White, of Mt Tyson, and they had seven children. Colin became involved in community life with the St Stephen's convent and the high school P and C committees in Pittsworth. Purchasing more land near "Oakdale"' in the 1970s, Colin eventually gave away dairy farming to concentrate on beef cattle and grain-growing, but in 1989 sold the properties and moved to Toowoomba. During his years in Toowoomba, Colin was groundsman at the Toowoomba State High School as well as tending the grounds at a couple of retirement homes and gaining respect as an acknowledged curator of cricket wickets. In his spare time, Colin enjoyed travelling around Queensland by car with Denise and enjoying the considerable civic and sporting achievements of his children. More than 400 people attended the Requiem Mass following the death of Colin by cardiac arrest aged 66. He is survived by his wife, mother, siblings Isabel, John and Kathleen, children Helen, Kathy, Michael, Donna, Robyn, Jan and Gregory and 13 grandchildren. His father and sister Valma predeceased him.
Published in “The Chronicle”, Toowoomba, June 12th, 2003
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