GM: OK, today is the 19th of April 2018, with Trenna Mahney. Tren, can you tell me whatever you can think of about Craig House.
THM: Well, Craig House was quite posh in some ways. It was formal in that we had to dress for dinner each night.
In the large dining area there were three tables, one very big jarrah, which would have seated one at each end and … Read the rest ... “The Kitchen Tapes #7”
Trenna and I lived in Darwin the capital of the Northern Territory from 1995 to 1997. Darwin, for our international readers is well and truely in the tropics.
During that time, thankfully, Trenna took the lead in writing home to friends and relatives. Yes it was the era of letters and expensive long … Read the rest ... “Commencing the Darwin Letters”
The time had to come in the life of this website when I had to write about THE Rolling Stones concert. For one reason I have HUNDREDS of photos Trenna and I took at the concert, and for another, Trenna and I had such a good time.
Trenna told me that she was keen to go to the Rolling Stones concert, at the WACA grounds in 1973. She would have been 16 years old … Read the rest ... “THE Rolling Stones Concert Part 1”
GM: OK, today is Sunday, the 15th of April 2018, I’m with Trenna Mahney, and she’s going to continue telling us about her memories of her past. Tren, last time we were talking with you you were on your way to school …
THM: I was talking about that slightly in the future, when Helen had arrived, I think. But I should go back to when I first came to Craig … Read the rest ... “The Kitchen Tapes # 6”
Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s friend, Helen Rice at the celebration of Trenna’s life.
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 … Read the rest ... “Eulogy Part 3”
[Note from Greg: I don’t think for one moment that when Trenna prepared this piece on her iPad that she just added a nice picture to the top. I think the fact that she is standing on an island (Staten), with the rest of the world behind her (New York City) is entirely deliberate and relevant.]
Below is the the eulogy delivered by Trenna’s oldest sister, Nancy Seckington-Baker at the celebration of Trenna’s life.
Greg has shared his story of Tren’s story. He has stressed I have 5 minutes.
We have endless, wonderful stories of our sister Trenna.
A truly life WELL LIVED.
However those stories are for another time and place.
I am here to say how incredibly thankful and grateful that we have … Read the rest ... “Eulogy Part 2”
GM: OK, so we’re here with Trenna Mahney. It’s the 14th of April, 2018. Tren, you were going to tell me about when you left Mofflyn Homes and went off to Craig House.
THM: Alright. It is a blurr. That time in my life was lost to me a little. I was well… I thought I only went to grade 1 when I was aged six at East Victoria Park Primary School, but apparently not. I … Read the rest ... “The Kitchen Tapes #5”
I started to watch The Andy Warhol Diaries on Netflix last night. It reminded me of two instances when the great artist and the great woman connected…….
Looking through Trenna’s iPad I came across the document she wrote to review/record the Black Sabbath concert we went to along with a friend, Adrian. It was the first time I had read this piece since 2016.
It immediately brought back memories of a really fab night. I also found some of the turns of phase pretty entertaining.
I will put her writing below, in the main body of this post but also … Read the rest ... “Moshing With Black Sabbath!”
by Greg
This is a list of some of the strategies Trenna adopted to try to cope with life and her many medical issues. She didn’t have a specific list of these items. This is just the things I remember us trying.
I’m expecting (hoping?) that this post might be helpful to people living with chronic disease, and their carers. But of course everyone’s situation is different.
For most of her life she was … Read the rest ... “Marfan and Other Chronic Conditions – Things That Worked for Trenna”
[GM: As the title suggests, this was the fourth of 24 recordings done at our kitchen bench in Kensington, Western Australia. As part of the preparation for putting it on this website, in February 2022, I asked our friend Helen to read through this transcript and the one from 7 June 2018. Below you will find some of Helen’s comments interspersed. My thanks to Helen for doing that.]
GM: OK, so it’s the … Read the rest ... “The Fourth Kitchen Tape”
A quick note before you start. If you have read the “About” page of this website you can ignore this particular post as the contents is the same as on that page. If that’s you, just scroll down.
You will learn a lot about Trenna as you go through the material on this website. However, if you aren’t already familiar with Trenna here is a quick primer to … Read the rest ... ““Please allow me to introduce myself…””
GM: This is a recording of Trenna Mahney made on the 12th of April, 2018. Tren, let’s talk about the time you lived down near the Old Mill.
THM: Alright, OK, well that was 1975. I was heading to being 17, 18. I had been living previously with some of the girls I had met from GFS. I eventually had to move because my friend Rose’s mum … Read the rest ... “The Third Kitchen Tape”
In November 2016 my then employer, Advocare Inc, gave me the opportunity to go to a mediation conference in Wellington, New Zealand.
Travel was becoming increasingly difficult for Trenna. Her eyesight was very bad and her pain management was not going well. We knew that the long flight from Perth in Western Australia to Auckland and then down to Wellington would take its toll.
On the other hand it really … Read the rest ... “The Wellington Earthquake”
Trenna became aware at some point around 2010 that she was getting out of the house less and less – it was often pretty hard. But she didn’t want to lose touch with the city in which she lived. And she wanted some recreation and a change of scenery.
So, she invented the “Recce-Vite”. She was using French words to describe a quick look around somewhere.
A recce-vite was … Read the rest ... “The Recce-Vite”
GM: OK we’re recording. It’s the 10th of April 2018.
THM: Right. We’re back at Mofflyn Homes, some more things have come to my memory.
In our cottage the older children looked after the younger children. They had responsibilities.
Younger children had to be bathed by someone. I know that we shared bath water, which was a common thing to do in those days, so it’s no big deal. … Read the rest ... “The Second Recording”
On 15 January 2021 a celebration of Trenna’s life was held. I wanted to hand out a postcard which had a picture of Trenna and a couple of links to a playlist I developed after Trenna passed away a few weeks earlier. I then put up a Facebook post to help people to click through to the playlist.
That Facebook post appears below and I have embedded the Youtube Playlist and the Spotify below.
Below is the eulogy I delivered at the Celebration of Trenna’s Life (her funeral). In due course I will do another post explaining what I wanted to achieve from the event and how friends and family helped me to organise it.
One of Trenna’s sisters, Nancy also gave a eulogy, as did Trenna’s friend, Helen. I will be publishing their words in the near future.
It is, of … Read the rest ... “Eulogy”
[GM: This recording of 9 April 2018 was the very first in a series of 24 recordings]
THM: The nineteen sixties were a decade of huge change for me and … for the world.
“…so my childhood was in some ways idyllic, in some ways terrible. I didn’t know the difference between the two”
My family had started to disintegrate. I began to have my own memories of my … Read the rest ... “The First Recording”