ST Paul’s Cathedral is hosting a service to celebrate the lives of the late Mavis Jennings and Bill Jennings OAM this Saturday (May 11) at 3pm.
Dean of the Cathedral, The Very Reverend Keren Terpstra encourages all those who were touched by the lives of these two very special people to attend and celebrate their very full lives of service and generosity to the community of Sale and beyond.
There will opportunities in the service for the different service groups and organisations they belonged to, as well as individuals, to creatively celebrate them.
During afternoon tea, some of Mavis’ artwork will be on display, and a variety of her incredible collection of arts and crafts, including her hats will be available to take for a donation. Donations will go towards stewardship and upkeep of Mavis’s art collection and Mavis House.
Bill Jennings OAM (born 27/04/1926) lived a very long and fulfilling life, passing away aged 96.
He was a man of vision and leadership, a quiet achiever, and immersed himself in the community of Sale for which he made a lasting impact.
He educated and enriched the lives of the district’s youth with many decades of teaching at the Sale Technical School, and in January 1988 was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to Education and Community. He was a founding board member of Ashleigh House incorporating Eastwood Park and a long serving member of Sale Rotary Club.
Bill was a life member of the Sale Golf Club and the Sale Bowling Club and was instrumental in the establishment of Crackerjack during the summer months, which has been a major fundraiser at the club for more than a decade. Communities and clubs are enhanced by people such as Bill, who give so much back from which all locals benefit.
Mavis Jennings (born 28/08/1921) died aged 102, on April 4, 2024.
After studying for her Diploma in Art (design and crafts), she worked as an art teacher at the School of Mines and Industries, Bendigo, and met and married Bill in 1948. They moved to Sale in 1957.
She designed their ranch style contemporary home, distinctive for its horizontality and use of cactus planting and pebble paving. Today, this is a significant element in Sale’s built heritage on the site of the Royal Oak Hotel.
She began a long association with the Sale Technical School as a secondary school teacher and night class tutor for adults, and was seconded as an education officer for the Sale Regional Art Centre.
She established and coordinated a craft resource unit at the Continuing Education Centre, Sale, later known as ACES.
Mavis authored a book on crafts, 162 Ideas For Creative People; she was also Gippsland Times art reporter with a chatty column of bouquets and the occasional brickbat; and taught millinery at Gippsland TAFE. Mavis was honoured by the Sale Rotary Club with the award of Paul Harris Fellow in 2004, the citation being ‘outstanding contribution to arts and crafts in a personal career of over 60 years’.
Mavis was further honoured by the Gippsland Art Gallery with an exhibition of her work Still Loving It. Fittingly as an art and craft educator all her life, she is represented by three works in the permanent collection of the Gippsland Art Gallery.
She will be remembered for her ‘crafty’ hats, for her conundrums, for her doggedness in a cause, and for her familiar greeting of ‘Sugar’.
She will also be remembered for advocating ‘do-it-yourself’ pastimes; promoting arts and crafts so effectively; her skill in sketching, some executed in the car whilst Bill went bird watching; and the breadth of her knowledge, much of it acquired through her overseas study tours.
Mavis and Bill were very supportive of numerous clubs and societies throughout the Sale region, giving generously not only of their time but financially.
The Sale Golf club, Sale Bowls Club, Rotary, Central Gippsland Hospital, Anglicare and Seaspray Surf Club were all very appreciative recipients.
Their philanthropy has continued with the Mavis and Bill Jennings Foundation.
