For more than 50 years, two neighbours in Galvin Street, Altona, have been the best of friends.
But now it’s the end of an era for Jean Kaye (above left) and Maureen McInerney, with Mrs Kaye moving to Yackandandah to be with her daughter.
Mrs Kaye, 90, moved to Altona from Gippsland in 1961, swapping her farm for a house because “it was hard to borrow money back then”.
The retired teacher, who taught at Brooklyn West primary before it became Altona Gate, and then schools in Ardeer and St Albans, said she was getting too old to be on her own.
“I’ve got something wrong with my heart and I panic and I have to get my neighbour out of bed to get me into hospital,” Mrs Kaye said.
Mrs Kaye has been active in the community, previously fighting to stop a heliport being built across the road.
Mrs McInerney said her neighbour was one of the most community-minded people she knew, collecting discarded cans in the street and pressing them to sell for charity.
“I haven’t bought a paper for years – I don’t even know how much they cost – because Mrs Kaye read the paper in the morning and then brought it in to me,” she said.
“Now, I have to buy my own paper.
“She’s helped everyone in Altona with everything, beds, mattresses, washing machines for neighbours who are struggling. She’s been a wonderful neighbour to me.”
