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The Mudgee Guardian was saddened to hear the news that long-time friend and supporter of the Guardian, Kay Bushnell passed away recently.
Below is an excerpt of a eulogy her daughter, Rebekah will read at a gathering in Lawson Park on Friday, March 29 which will be a celebration of Kay's life.
OUR MOTHER
Our Mother, how do you explain such a beautiful kind-hearted woman, of such powerful magnitude in words? We as Kay's children don't believe you can. I believe a part of mum/Ms Bushy or Saint Kay lives in all of us.
Mum had a gift that can be referred to as part of the theory of Chaos, the 'Butterfly Effect', a theory by Edward N. Lorenz. For when a butterfly flaps its wings it may been to seen have a small effect, but may be felt at a larger magnitude by the receiver, one small act of kindness can change the path of one's life, mum was a living, breathing act of kindness, for when she touched peoples lives she enriched their existence.
Mum was an eccentric, she was an academic, she was a writer and a teacher, to those who knew her she was beautifully unique and extremely independent. Mum carried the air of that of a free spirit, she loved nothing more than to load her dog Charlie up and cruse in her Green Kombi Van, saying "she'll be right mate".
We relocated to the Mudgee area in the early 80's to what mum liked to call 'Outer Bocoble West'. Mum was a woman in her early 40's with six children in tow, a position of district relief teacher and a 25 acre block. We had a childhood of freedom, six horses that if you could saddle up you could ride. Mum was a lover of all creatures great and small, we raised roos, we slept with dogs and cats, every stray was welcome in our home.
We lived wild and we lived free with mum our guiding hand, teaching us resilience, demonstrating strength when times were tough, but most importantly she was gentle, she was kind and against all odds she made her situation work.
For me, mum was a serial tracker, she would find me anywhere in Australia. When I worked in the shearing sheds I was likely to be anywhere, she would joke that I may be somewhere droving down the Lachlan and expected a letter that had been written with a thumb nail dipped in tar.
I recall I was to start work at a shearing shed in a tiny town called Yunta, population of about 10. My partner at the time and I had called into the local Yunta pub, it was freezing cold, the pub was about to shut, there was one other man in the pub, I had to go to the loo, which was way down the back.
I had to go down this dark corridor, I noticed about half way down there was a phone, I thought what a strange place to have a phone, kind of spooky. On the way back the bloody thing was ringing, I thought "do I answer it"? I said 'hello' and there was mum on the other end with her big "hello darling", how she found me I still have no idea.
What a truly amazing lady, we feel empowered that she was ours, we have been faced with the day we have dreaded our whole lives, how you fill the empty hole this has left in our beings, to all joining us to celebrate beautiful Kay/Mum. Thank you