Noreen Vranjes

Read by Sophie and Zara We are all here today to honour and remember the life of our Nana, Noreen. Nana’s wishes were that, this occasion be simple and special, and shared with the people she cared the most about. Noreen Dorothy Vranjes was born on the 19th of November 1938, daughter of Nick and Mary Divich. Nan was one of 5 girls, Joyce deceased, Joan, Elizabeth and Anne. As sisters, I hope you know, you meant the absolute world to her and she loved you all very much. Zara would now like to share with you all, some memories on behalf of Aunty Joan. One of Joan’s most vivid memories of Noreen was when she was five, and one of the sisters came to her in class, wanting to know where Noreen was, and asked if she was sick. Joan replied ‘no’ and was told to go home and tell their mum that Noreen wasn’t at school. Obviously Mary was shocked and for some reason, she went into her bedroom and as she was walking out, she noticed that the dressing table was not straight. She went over to straighten it up and there was her darling Noreen, sitting behind the dressing table. Apparently Noreen left for school, but obviously decided not go and climbed back inside through an open window in her mum’s room! Noreen was always a gentle, quietly spoken, caring and loving person who never argued with anyone. As a child, Noreen loved to play dress ups and throughout her life she was always very well dressed. Aunty Joan would sew all of her dresses and make her ball gowns for when she went to the Embassy Ballroom. She always looked stunningly beautiful, and Aunty Joan enjoyed seeing Noreen in her handmade gowns. Then just over 53 years ago, she met and married the handsome Ivan Vranjes. As everyone here travelled their journey of marriage together along with them, you would know that they had a great life together, which was filled with much happiness. Family played a large part of their fulfilment, with the birth of their daughter Janine and their son Mark, making their family complete. They had a life full of wonderful memories. One in particular that was very special to Nanna and Grandad was when they travelled to Croatia a few years ago. Nana had a secret travel bug. She was our personal travel agent with her own stash of travel brochures and maps of every country. If one of us mentioned a place we would like to visit, she would be able to tell us all sorts of information that she had read in the newspaper, a brochure or heard about on the radio. Their holiday together was something she only ever dreamed about, so when it happened, it was just meant to be. They absolutely loved their holiday, so much so they hoped to go back there again. Unfortunately before they could return, Nana was diagnosed with Mylofibrosis. This meant that Nana couldn’t travel far, as she would rely on the generous gift of blood donations to keep her well. Over the last 5 and half years, Grandad would take Nanna nearly every fortnight to Clinipath for blood transfusions. She would take a packed lunched and her Woman’s Day and sit there for 3 to 4 hours and watch TV in her recliner rocker. The staff at Clinipath were amazing and became like an extended family to her. Dr Tampi, her Haematologist, was also very special to nanna as he cared for her with such respect and trust. Late last year, he called Nana a miracle. He was in awe of her strength, her healing power and also the fact that she had outlived the life expectancy of her condition. In February on what we thought was a routine visit to Clinipath, Dr Tampi had to deliver the news that Nans condition had changed, and that she had developed Leukaemia. Whilst our world fell apart, Nana took the news with so much courage and integrity, that she was more worried about us than herself. This is the time when Nana’s philosophy on life kicked in and encouraged us all, to be as strong as we could. Nana always believed that what was meant to be, would be and that if you couldn’t change something or fix something, then “what could you do”. Simple words said with huge conviction. At this time Nana decided to leave her destiny in the hands of mother nature. Out of all the life memories we have, the ones we made over the past few months would have to be the most precious. Knowing what was to come, gave us the opportunity to make the most of our time with Nan. We had so many laughs about things that had happened over the years, laughs about things we had said and generally just soaked up as much family time together as we could. It was also in this time that Mum, Mark, Zara and myself as well as others, got to see how much love and respect Grandad and Nanna had for each other. Grandad could not have cared or looked after Nana any more than he did. It was beautiful to witness intimate moments between them, the holding of a hand, or a look that only they could share. Again, beautiful memories. Nana called Grandad her hero and her angel. Nana never had high expectations of herself or anyone for that matter, she found contentment and satisfaction in knowing that everyone was happy, and that’s all she ever needed. Nana was a just a genuinely nice person with a beautiful soul and a beautiful mind. She never had a bad word to say about anyone. She never once complained about anything, and not once said why me. She was totally selfless. She also said that no one was perfect, but we think Nana would have to be the closest thing to perfection. In saying that, she did have a few nanna-isms such as the pointing of the finger. If she ever wanted something done, or wanted to make a point, it would happen, she would point her finger at you. Sometimes she would even sleep with her finger pointed, just to have it at the ready. Another nanna-ism was the way that she waved. Possibly the cutest wave I have ever seen. We will miss her wave, her knowledge, her calmness, her positive approach to life, her love and basically we will just miss her for being her. Thank you all for sharing this day with us. We would like to welcome you to come back to Grandads to reminisce about this amazing lady who was a wife, a mother, a nana, a sister and a friend to us all. Rest in peace Nana. ________________________________________________________________________________ Noreen’s childhood life until she got married. By Joan Zuvich Noreen Dorothy Divich born November 19th 1938 to Nick and Mary Divich. Noreen was the 3rd child born. First born was Joyce who passed away a year before Noreen was born, then I was born then Noreen, Betty and Anne. Noreen was born at Nurse Bevans hospital in Newcastle Street West Perth and we were living then in Aberdeen Street (Now Northbridge). Not long after Noreen was born we moved into our new house on Oxford Street Leederville, where we spent our early childhood days. My first memory of Noreen (I was 4 years older) Mum was ironing on the table in the kitchen (no ironing boards in those days), I was playing on the floor with some toys, Noreen started to cry. Mum went to the bedroom to attend to Noreen and she stopped crying. Mum came back to the ironing and Noreen starts crying again, and guess what? I started to cry! So we were both crying and I’m telling mum to go and pick Noreen up. She went and picked her up, she stopped crying and that is still vivid in my mind today. Now when Noreen was 5 years old, she attended school at St Marys Catholic School in Leederville when one morning Noreen’s teacher calls me to come to her class and wants to know why Noreen is not at school? Was she sick? I replied no, so I’m told to go home and tell mum that Noreen is not at school, (no phones in those days) I went home which was in the next street to the school, and I tell mum Noreen’s not at school. Poor mum, she was shocked. For some reason Mum went into her bedroom and as she was leaving her bedroom she thought her dressing table was not straight as one side was out of place. So she went over to put it straight and guess what? There was our dear Noreen sitting somehow behind the dressing table. Noreen left home but then went back to the front veranda and climbed into mum’s bedroom through the front window, which was opened, as we didn’t have any flyscreens on our windows. I don’t know but I am sure she didn’t get into trouble knowing our mum. We were having a conversation once about how they say now, it is not good for children to change schools, then Noreen comes up with, “I went to 5 different schools, nothing wrong with me.” Noreen started school at St Marys Catholic College in Leederville, West Swan followed by St Joseph at Victoria Square, St Kieran’s Osborne Park and finished schooling at St Marys Leederville. As you can see our family moved around a bit, which was quite unusual for the ‘Slavs’, as we were called then. One of our great family friends (we had a lot of friends) was the Perica family. We visited each other every Friday, one week at South Perth, the other at our place in Leederville and Noreen and Elka would spend most of the night in the bedrooms dressing up in their mums clothes and shoes. I think they enjoyed themselves. Noreen was always a gentle, quietly spoken, caring and loving person never argued with anyone always pleasant to everybody. She always liked to dress well and wore nice outfits. When we were young I used to sew her dresses and make all her long ball gowns when she went to the balls at the Embassy Ballroom. She always looked beautiful, stunning. I always enjoyed sewing her dresses and seeing the finished product, she always dressed well all her life. When Ivan and Noreen were young they use to go skiing in summer with their friends and Betty would always ask Noreen could she go with them and of course the answer was no and don’t ask Ivan, can you come. Ivan would arrive to pick up Noreen, and Betty comes out, “Ivan can I come?” Ivan’s answer was “Yes you can come” and Betty gets a look from Noreen. Noreen became a shorthand typist and her first workplace was with Rankin Wilson accountancies business and later worked for an insurance office in the city and married while she was working there. Ivan and Noreen married on June 3rd 1961 at St Marys Church Leederville. It rained heavy all morning then around midday the rain stopped and it was a sunny afternoon. Betty and Anne were her bridesmaids and my darling little Judith was flower girl but she cried most of the time wanting her daddy when she got to her dad she stop crying. Our dear Noreen was a beautiful loving and caring daughter and sister. We will all miss and never forget her. Love to all her loving family, goodbye my darling sister rest in eternal peace with your departed family. Joan