Page:Gillespies Beach Beginnings • Alexander (2010).pdf/94

 May, Anne and Sheila Williams, daughters of Julia and Fred, all became teaching nuns in the Sisters of Mercy order, and eventually contributed over 180 years of teaching service before they retired. They enjoyed a long religious life. May, Sister Mary Aloysia, remained on the Coast, teaching at both Hokitika and Ross. Anne, Sister Mary Lawrence, taught on the Coast, but also in Timaru and Christchurch. Sheila, Sister Mary St John, taught for many years at Loreto College in Christchurch, where she acquired a formidable reputation as the College’s football coach. When they took their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, convent life was strict and conventional. Adjustment to the changes brought about by the Vatican Council in the 1960s demanded considerable adjustment. While they were alive, through their letters and visits, they kept South Island descendants together. The lovely old buildings in which they served, the Sacred Heart College in Craigie Avenue, Timaru, St Mary’s Convents in both Christchurch and Greymouth, and St Columbkilles in Hokitika no longer exist, all having been demolished.

Margaret (Mag Williams) and her husband, Robert Emmett Clarke (Bob) started their married life in Greymouth in 1922. Because of a downturn in the building industry during the depression years, they eventually borrowed money to buy a dairy farm at Whataroa in the early 1930s. Bob constructed many buildings on the Coast including the Catholic church, Our Lady of the Snows at Fox Glacier and the church, Our Lady of the Woods and presbytery at Whataroa. With Jack Sweeney he erected the Abel Tasman obelisk at Okarito in the early 1940s with money donated by the Dutch government. He worked on the extensions to the Williams homestead at Fox Glacier and also built houses for his three Williams brothers-in-law, Harry, Pat, and Lawn when they married. Earlier he also worked on the Sullivan homestead for Mick Sullivan when he married. It is a tribute to his workmanship that at time of writing these many decades later they are still in sound condition.