After 50 years of serving the air force community, and still going, Wendy Naylor of San Remo has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division (OAM).
She was one of 933 Australians in the Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List announced by the Governor-General on Monday, June 8.
“In this list, we see all the positives that are in our community.
“We see the great ideas, we see the hard work, we see the love and compassion for fellow humans, it’s a microcosm of Australia,” the Governor-General said.
“This list recognises a group of outstanding Australians who have made a contribution to their community, to Australia globally or domestically.”
Naylor has been recognised for her service to veterans and their families through the NSW Sub-branch of the Partner of Veterans Association, as well as the RAAF Women’s Association of NSW.
“My husband, Jim, was in the air force and he was away a lot,” she said.
Naylor joined the Richmond RAAF Women’s Association of NSW in the 1960s and had several roles during the 15 years that they were stationed there.
“We started the Educational Patriotic Trust Fund, which was throughout Australia, and the money that we raised went to buy bits and pieces for kids whose fathers had gone.
“It was a social and supportive thing for us to do while we were raising money.
“I was pretty busy most of the time because the RAAF women were responsible for starting up the emergency housekeeping service in Richmond, and I was involved in getting that going, as well as the community transport, the Neighbourhood Watch and the Neighbourhood Centre.
“I went back to work when my children were old enough and I worked in the welfare field.
“Actually, I volunteered for the emergency housekeeping service (now Home Care Service of NSW) and after the first couple of years, they started paying me, which was very nice.
“I became a co-ordinator and eventually the manager for the whole area.
“We had a huge area, Hawkesbury, because we had all Windsor and Richmond shire as it was known then, up to Blaxland, down to Blacktown and over to Wiseman’s Ferry and Spencer.”
Naylor said she then became a Roving Branch Adviser from 1974 to 1989.
“I really enjoyed that, going around to the country branches helping them on their way and to implement all the changes that were happening at that time,” she said.
The Partner of Veterans Association, NSW Sub-branch (PVA) has been going for 21 years and Naylor joined up in 2002.
Since then she’s been president or vice-president “for a very long time”, NSW welfare co-ordinator from 2008 to 2014, and President of the Central Coast branch from 2004 to 2014.
She was invested with Life Membership in 2011.
“I was so proud of it, not many of us get that, and it was a total shock,” she said.
“I was Vice-president at the time and thought I was helping to organise life membership for someone else, but when they actually called out my name at the event, I nearly fell off the chair, I was that surprised.
“PVA is a very big organisation and we look after the wives or partners of veterans with a wide range of support to settle into a new place, to find new schools, doctors and an emergency phone service if someone just wants to have a talk.
“I started thinking about it, I was about 28 when I started doing all of this and I’m 78 now, but I will still keep in touch and do my bit where I can.”
Naylor will be invested with her award either by the Governor-General at Government House in Canberra, or by the State Governor, when the COVID-19 restrictions allow.
Source:
Interview, June 4
Wendy Naylor
Media release, June 4
Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia,
His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd)
Reporter: Sue Murray