Three generations of women touched by the tragedy of war are helping other families experiencing their own losses.
Maidstone’s Marie Miller, daughter Dianne Clucas and granddaughter MeiLing Clucas, are all involved with Legacy, which helps Australian families after the death of a military spouse or parent. Ms Miller and her late husband, James, served in the army in World War II.
RELATED: The band stops, the war starts
Dianne Clucas’s husband, Paul, served on HMAS Sydney in the Vietnam War. When the ship was decommissioned, he moved back to Melbourne and started a family.
But he had difficulty settling back in and took his own life in 1986, leaving her to bring up children aged three, six and nine. “Legacy helped with schooling and a camp for the children,” Dianne Clucas said. “The widows would get together and talk and each would have a different story to tell.”
Now two of her children, MeiLing and Brad, are carrying on the important work of Legacy, helping the next generation of children impacted by conflict and tragedy.
MeiLing and Brad have both been presidents of the Junior Legacy Club, while Brad also carried the Legacy banner in last year’s Anzac Day march. “They formed a lot of friendships through Legacy and still give a lot of their time,” Ms Clucas said. “It was a great thrill for Brad and an even bigger thrill for me when he led the march last year.”
This Friday, the family will continue their Anzac Day tradition of handing out sprigs of rosemary at the march. Ms Clucas said a decision of Legacy’s head office to sell the Footscray Legacy Widows Club clubhouse in Pickett Street had put a question mark over the group’s future. “It would be great if they could find somewhere new to meet in the area.”
