A Celebration of Trenna’s Life – 15 January 2021
Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s friend, Helen Rice at the celebration of Trenna’s life.
Eulogy
I met Trenna in October 1967 when I moved to Craig House a hostel for Legacy children.We bonded instantly as we were the youngest at Craig House at that time. She became my closest friend very quickly, so much so that I remember not wanting to go on a visit with my mother because I wanted to stay and play with Trenna and our dolls, we were 10 years old.
In 1972 we went seperate ways when Craig House closed down. Unfortunately the powers that be did not see the academic potential of Trenna, and she certainly had heaps of it. Tren instead of completing her final 2 years of high school went on to Business College and quickly into the commercial workforce.
We reunited in 1975 and begun living in a South Perth rental. Every 2 weeks we caught the bus into the city to collect our dole cheque of $72 each from the dole office. We thought we were quite well off though Tren promptly gave up cigarettes to make the money go further. We even treated ourselves to a club sandwich at a lovely cafe in Hay Street Mall called Arabella’s. I remember Tren’s older brother Colin giving us a lecture about wasting our money etc etc…. but we were young and carefree.
Within a few months I met my first husband through Tren. Robert Lee was a friend of Tren’s she met whilst living in Bey Apartments in the city, he visited us in South Perth with some of Trenna’s previous flatmates. The 3 children Robert and I had together thank Trenna for that connection.
What I remember about Trenna.
Tren had ESP and I should have trusted her when I decided that we should wag our piano lesson with the catholic nuns for the third week in a row. Tren said “I have a bad feeling about it Hel” and I said “don’t be silly we won’t get caught….” well guess what…. Tren was correct. As we were almost at Craig House, Matron pulled up in her blue Morris 1100 and said “get in the car you two” and that was the end of piano lessons.
Tren was ALWAYS up for a good time in spite of her pain from a young age and yet I cannot recall her complaining about it. Even enjoying the simple pleasure of a good cup of Earl Grey she would say as she took her first sip – “Awwww Hel this is sooo good, it’s better than sex.”
Cheeky, rebellious, for example when our grade 7 teacher Mr Donovan had had enough of our backchat he sent Trenna to the headmaster’s office. He forgot that he would also send us to the headmaster’s office when we were well behaved to receive a brand new pencil, so anyway when Tren came back to the classroom Mr Donovan asked her “well what did the headmaster say about your behaviour?”. Tren replied “he’s sorry but he’s run out of pencils” which of course had the class in hysterics.
Generosity of spirit. When my new husband and I eloped in 2011 with only our children attending our marriage ceremony, whilst some expressed disappointment, some even annoyance of not being invited, Tren and Greg were so generous in their congratulations and they took us for a lunch to the lovely Millbrook winery. Tren was so very happy for us.
You can appreciate, over a period of 53 years there were countless experiences Tren and I shared. Trenna was my rock of a friend, she gave great advice and I could rely on her honesty and genuine concern.
Finally I had the privilege to be holding Tren’s hand when she took her final breath.
Thank you Tren I will love and miss you until I die.
