Sadie May Coombs

Sadie was born 6th December 1941 in Coburg to Sadie Elizabeth and Earl Blane Robertson and was an only child. She grew up in the northeast suburbs of Melbourne being educated at North Fairfield Central School and later Heidelberg High before entering the workforce as a grocers assistant in East Preston. She married Brian Clifford Harvey in 1966 however this union was tragically cut short when he was killed in a workplace accident in South Morang in 1969. This tragedy occurred just 6 months prior to the birth of her first and only son, Stuart. After a lengthy legal battle to secure compensation for the accident, Sadie reconnected with an old school friend in 1974. Letters and then visits were exchanged and one thing led to another and in 1976 the two got married. Since that time the family lived happily in Bundoora. Sadie was a fanatical Collingwood supporter almost her entire life first going to games in the 1940s when she persuaded her parents to take her despite neither of them following the team at that time. She was a seasons ticket holder from about this time onward through until the end of last year's season tallying more than 60 years continuous membership. A variety of charities were beneficiaries of Sadie's kind and generous nature, with those involving animals and nature often prominent. In particular the RSPCA received many donations as in latter years did the Donkey Shelter, where she sponsored a donkey called Florence for many years. Medical charities as well as those collecting for the unfortunate were also well represented in her charitable activities. Sadie was a keen gardener, indeed was enthusiastic about the natural world in general and was never happier than when in her beloved gardens either in Bundoora or at the seaside holiday house in Rosebud where the family holidayed on many occasions. In latter year she began feeding birds in her garden and during the last 15 years hundreds of lorikeets, magpies, magpie larks, butcherbirds and kookaburras have benefited from this. In fact the lorikeets would even land on her shoulders when she would come into the yard. I am sure they miss her as do the rest of us. Sadie was a generous, kind hearted person who never put herself forward, always helping others and always there with a kind word or deed. She was beloved wife of Brian Clifford Harvey and later Graeme Charles Coombs and much loved mother of Stuart.