Lona White (nee Wise) was born on the 31st of October 1928 in the Old Gnowangerup Hospital on Yougenup Road.
Her parents were Herb C. J. and Daisy Wise [nee Anderson] from Yatelands at Needilup, 18 miles from Ongerup.
Lona was born 18 months after her sister Gwen, brother Keith followed 6 years later, then sister Pat, twins Norman and Leslie then Dudley in 1941.
A total of 8 children to be brought up during Depression and War Years.
A challenge many families of those days endured.
Their life was very simple with no luxuries and a great dependency on being self sufficient for most food items including rabbit, emus, kangaroo, poultry, eggs, flour, fruit, vegetables and farm meats.

Yatelands was the family farm from 1925 to 1948.
It was 3000 acres in size with 2 paddocks being 1000 acres each. The family first lived in a weatherboard and tin shed lined with and rooms separated by hessian. Some was even painted white!
In 1945 Lona’s Dad built a house from 2 abandoned Group Settlement homes. This remains today being used as an engineering business.
Lona attended Needilup School until it was one of many small country schools closed during the Depression or the Second World War.
Daisy used the school by correspondence system for sometime but found it difficult with 5 very young children in 5 years and assisting Herb on the new land farm as well.

     LONA ON "BRIDGET" THEHORSE            #6
 

In 1941-42 Daisy relocated and rented a house in Katanning on the Kojonup Road so the children could attend school.
Herb’s parents and sister lived nearby on a farm. The children missed their Dad and Needilup life terribly, except for Keith, this was not a popular move!
Upon returning home for a weekend visit Lona flatly refused to venture back to Katanning. Unfortunately, nearing the age of 14, this was the end of her formal education.
Some of the other children returned to be cared for by Lona. This she did very capably and the siblings enjoyed her soft touch and good cooking!
They played many pranks on her especially climbing into trees to hide when asked to help with jobs making her laugh and give up her requests! A real challenge with 4 boys and 1 girl!
 

This she continued until 2 years ago. One of her special childhood pet lambs was Ben who the children would ride around like a horse!
Like all children of that period, Lona and her siblings undertook many tasks around the farm and the house. Lona learned to cook, garden, sew and knit when she was very young, and many of her Glory Box items were beautifully embroidered.
Other jobs included feeding the horses, pigs cows, sheep and washing the pigs in the dam after they had escaped from their sties!
Lona also learned to ride at an early age. She followed her mother’s fine horsewoman expertise. Lona and Gwen shared a horse called Bridget for many years until a family friend from the Stirlings, noticed Lona’s outstanding riding ability and loaned Mum a pony that would take off like a rocket when homeward bound!
This Lona managed very capably, beating her older sister Gwen on many occasions! Her last horse was called Spring.
Mum’s love of horse’s extended to her enjoyment of Melbourne Cup luncheons – the only day she gambled in the 'Sweeps'.

She especially enjoyed riding on a horse drawn coach around the streets of Melbourne late 1 night when Sandy, Mum and I travelled there for the Phantom of the Opera in April 1993.

She dearly remembered taking a seat with Dad on the horse drawn carriage around Guildford when Sandy and Alan were married in September 1993. A tribute and dedication to her fine horsemanship will be highlighted by Sandy later. Sandy has inherited this wonderful skill from Mum.
Growing up, there were happy times walking and riding to visit many Needilup/Ongerup families and mixing at monthly Sunday Church services in the hall. After these there would be a luncheon, games of tennis, cricket, footy and athletics.
Old Time dances were also held in the hall. Lona developed a great love for dancing from these and from the age of about 16 she would travel many miles, often piling on to benches on the back of a truck with Brown’s and Mchardy’s - all off to a hall!
On one occasion Lona became very unpopular with Herb for taking petrol so a truck could take the group to a dance! During these years petrol was a very scarce commodity and rationed by vouchers for important use only! This was probably the worst crime our law abiding Mum ever committed!
Over the years Lona danced at Salt River, Borden, Gnowangerup, Pingrup, Ongerup and Albany and points in between!
Often she would travel with the dance band. Lona often made her own dresses for these dances ably assisted by her sister Gwen.

As a teenager Lona joined the local hockey club at Ongerup. She rode her horse 18 miles to play the game and then 18 miles home again. She also did this to play tennis at Ongerup, often riding home in the dark after a full afternoon of tennis and dinner afterwards. A challenge for a lady who was scared of the dark! Lona also played these sports in Gnowangerup being in the Red Devil’s or Blue Angel’s hockey team.
In 1945 Lona moved to Albany with older sister Gwen to paid work at the local hospital and board at the Domestic Staff quarters.
Here Lona became good friends with twins Vi and Edie Baker.
As a teenager Lona moved to Geraldton Hospital with Vi, staying at the quarters and working at the hospital as a domestic.
Unfortunately her Mum, Daisy had a heart attack and Lona moved to assist her at the King River farm, Albany.
The family had moved here in 1948 for high school education for the younger siblings. In her late teens Lona secured a position at Kernutt’s Gnowangerup Bakery. This job and family she really enjoyed.
It was at this time that she met and began a life-long friendship with Joy White, who was working in Gnowangerup at Davies store. Joy invited Lona to her 21st which was in January, 1950.
This was probably where Lona met John White for the first time.
Just 20 months later on the first of September 1951, at the age of 23 and 24, Lona and John were married in Scott’s Presbyterian Church in Albany.
 

Lona’s bridesmaids were her sister Pat and close friend Dawn Thompson [later Smith]. The groomsmen were John’s younger brother Norman and his long time neighbour, friend (and soon to be brother in law) Donald Stewart.
The reception was held at the Masonic Hall and catered for by the Lucas’.
Lona and John honeymooned in Perth returning to live at Whiteworth farm at Gnowangerup. They added rooms to the side of Dorothy’s House (John’s Mother) until they could afford time and money to build their own, small 7 room house nearby, moving in 1960. This was extended in the late 1990’s. Kim lives in this now.

More recently Mum became an avid bowls fan and an active member of the Gnowangerup Bowling Club where she has made many close friends over the years.
Lona has been successful in several singles, pairs and fours events, including runner up in the singles in 1999/2000. Last year Lona had great success in a singles plate event in extreme heat.
Many members tried to encourage her to retire to avoid the heat. But not this determined lady! She was made to feel like a celebrity when she did so well! Mum really loved her bowls and being part of the club, travelling to other towns for pennants and competitions.

She took great delight in cooking and preparing many more foods than was requested of her and working in the kitchen for the countless catering jobs that the bowling ladies volunteered for. A special corner of the kitchen will be labelled in her honour.
Lona is survived by four children, six grandchildren and one great grandchild. Myself, a school teacher, married Richard (Rick) Cardinal, a concreter, bricklayer and plasterer, in 1977 and moved to Busselton where we built our home.
We have two children: Kylie Anne born in 1987 and Jason Richard, born in 1994. Kylie is working in Brisbane and Jason is at Harvey Agricultural College for 3 years.
Barry is working a farm in the Porongorups.
Coralie married Neil Betham in 1975 and had four children: Reginald John in 1976, David Joshua in 1988, Deborah-Anne Jessica in 1990 and Jennifer Joanne in 1992.
Coralie passed away on November 18, 2007 in Katanning. She is buried at the Gnowangerup Cemetery not far from her Dad and soon Mum.
Reg married Michelle Tuffin in 2006 and John and Lona’s first great grandchild, Cameron, was born in August, 2007.

Those who knew Lona would be aware of her determination, kindness and strong work ethic, her love of family, gardening and bowls, her ability as a cook and housekeeper, knitter and dressmaker, her knowledge of farming and love of animals, her happy nature and beauty – her smile was both unique and wonderful.
She always put others first before herself. Lona spent countless hours doing voluntary work for community groups, especially when it came to cooking for functions, serving food and giving away milk, eggs, cream, veges and flowers.

She very much enjoyed this – to Mum it was a pleasure not a chore and a chance to catch up with friends for a chat. She also extended this love of nurturing to her family and loved nothing more to have the family stay for a tasty meal that she would whip up in a very short time. These things she did with many body ailments, rarely complaining or letting them impede her work or conversations.

We pay our strongest thanks and appreciation to Mum for the many life skills and respect she taught us all with incredible patience and a smile. Her grandchildren have been truly blessed to have had the privilege of her company and loving care. We will miss the many phone calls she made to check on our well being, especially Sunday afternoons. Mum you will be missed terribly in your home, garden, community and visiting loved ones. We will continue to keep the kettle boiling so you can enjoy your cuppa with our dear Dad. Now another smiling star in heaven.
Many thanks to Merilyn nee Stewart, Pat Negri and Keith Wise for their assistance with this short history of Lona’s Life.