Reverend Ken Dale (Deacon) and son, led the service assisted by the Bishop of the Diocese of Riverina, Bishop Rob Gillion of Griffith, Father Michael Moulder (Berrigan), Venerable Robert Done (Jindera) and Father Bill Gins (Albury).

Grandchildren, Shane, Jason and Grant Morey and Thomas Dale all dressed in black pants, white shirts and bright red ties carried the beautiful white casket which was draped with one of the many Belle and Belle of Belles sashes that Mary won in her youth, the staff of Dale’s IGA, Hardware and Electrical stores in Henty, formed a guard of honour all dressed in their IGA uniforms in respect of their employer.

Phillip Dale, son, and Grant Morey, grandson, read extracts from the eulogy and life story as written by her for a Probus and Rotary talk some years ago; the flowers and photo was carried by great, grandchildren Jade and Elizabeth Dale, Montana and Indi Morey.

The eulogy gives some information on the life of this wonderful lady. Extracts from the eulogy will give you some idea of the life of this special lady who gave so much to the people of Henty and its district through community service, Rotary, Probus, her church and business.

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MARY Elizabeth Dale was born July 14, 1934 at Chiltern. The first child of Joseph Sherwood Fisher and his wife Thelma Gladys Fisher, nee Martin.

Mary was followed a year later by her brother Robert Joseph, “Rusty”.

She was christened and confirmed at St Paul’s Anglican Church Chiltern.     

The family all attended Browns Plains chapel and her parent’s strong faith continued in Mary. Browns Plains chapel has a long list of accomplished church organists – of which Mary was one, about 40 years here at St Barnabas before passing the baton to son Ken.

She grew up at “Little Hills” Browns Plains. For those who don’t know, Browns Plains is between Barnawartha & Rutherglen. Most of the neighbours were all “Fisher” relations, with a lot of interaction between them all, so Mary had a very strong connection with her cousins and their families, which continued all her life.

She also had a strong connection with her Martin heritage. Most Sunday afternoons her mother’s siblings and families would drive out from Chiltern to the farm.

They had a real interest in her family as Aunty Add never had a daughter so Mary was her chosen pet. The Fisher home was like a family home to them after her grandfather Charles Taylor Martin came to live, until his passing at 100 years of age in 1952. Mary was also proud of the fact that one of her ancestors, Jane Taylor, wrote the poem from which Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is based, and Mary’s great great great grandfather Charles Taylor 1756-1823, wrote Calmet’s Dictionary of  the Bible, translating from French into English- including illustrations and  is the  parent of all subsequent dictionaries of the Bible.

Mary attended school at Browns Plains No 1462. The school was only about 2km from their house so Mary and Rusty rode their bikes there. Mary then attended Wangaratta High school, from 1948 for four years, boarding at the Girls Church of England Hostel with about 40 other young ladies. They were happy times and she loved attending their reunions in recent years. Upon achieving her leaving certificate, Mary was offered work in the Chiltern Bank, but her father Joe said she would leave home soon enough and there was plenty of work on the farm, even though they had workmen. 

Mary was very proficient at driving the tractors, especially the twin city Tractors, droving sheep was another big job as Joe dealt in sheep. After the Barnawartha Bush fires in 1952, Mary & Rusty spent weeks rolling up the 22 miles of fencing that they lost.

Mary was invited to be one of 15 girls to represent Australia at the first World Conference of GFS (Girls Friendly Society) at the Isle of Wight, England in 1955, it became a seven month educational tour of the British Isles which included a lot of mayoral receptions, visits to Cathedrals and a tour of the continent. This began a lifelong love of travel, and she enjoyed many trips to conferences around the world with Les.

Mary did a year of sewing at high school and her Mother was a good sewer and knitter.  This gave her the opportunity to express her talents at dress making.  She made all her own Ball gowns, some with starched calico petticoats over a hoop with  layers of tulle over taffeta to make a full bouffant skirt , most gowns were strapless with a tulle stole which was very  fashionable at the time.

She was a popular, active and outgoing person, an excellent dancer, was very striking, and won many Belle of the Ball competitions at Barnawartha, Chiltern, Holbrook, and Pleasant Hills, Belle of Belles 1956 Chiltern, Tallangatta, Oaklands and Miss C W A at Brocklesby. It tickled her fancy to be asked to have her Sashes and stories in the Athenaeum in Chiltern. She didn’t think she was that old!!

Mary & Rusty were members of Kiewa Young Farmers, and on a bus trip Mary heard a good looking young man playing “Under the Double Eagle” on the accordion, a hard piece to play, and was introduced to Les Dale from Henty.

Mary was part of a group of young people who travelled to many dances and Balls covering a wide area, Tallangatta, Barnawartha,  Rutherglen, Rand, Walbundrie, Pleasant Hills, Walla, and Kergunyah, the dances were mostly 50/50 and some set dances.  Henty came on the list of Balls to attend in 1957, after Mary re-met Les at a Ball in Walla, following which a romance started, and on 14th July, 1958 they announced their engagement. 

On January 24, 1959 at St Mathews Church Albury, they were married.

The weather was 105 deg F (41 degrees), but Mary always said she didn’t feel the heat that day.

Mary made her beautiful wedding dress, the bridesmaid’s dresses, as well as made and decorated the three tier wedding cake. 

After returning from their honeymoon, Les was bedridden with the flu, and Mary was thrown in the deep end. So without any prior training, she ran Les’s business “Dale’s Hyway Store”, learning to make milk shakes and all the other jobs associated with retailing. She worked side by side with Les for the next 59 years. They often joked, her only reward was the “Opportunity to sleep with the boss”.

On October 28 that year Narelle Mary was born, Kenneth Leslie on March 6, 1963 and Phillip Joseph February 28, 1972. 

The kids were raised in the public eye - Narelle, Ken and later Phillip spent a lot of their childhood in pram or playpen, in whatever store Mary was working in. They all learned at an early age to interact with customers developing life skills through serving customers and doing whatever needed to be done.

The kids did all the normal things - Brownies & Girl guides, Cubs, music lessons, dance lessons, swimming club, tennis and other sports. Mary supported them and attended the school open days and other events, plus was a worker for the organisations - like uniform officer for the guides for about 25 years.

Right from Mary’s arrival in Henty she has been active in the community. She helped Les organise the Belle of Belle’s Ball for Jaycees in 1958 (before they were married), and judged Miss Henty at the Swimming pool opening in 1959. 

She was the main force behind the success of many Rotary Balls, and one of the main organisers of 22 Anglican Belle of Debs Balls, comprising of up to 40 young entrants from North East Victoria, the Riverina and local lasses.

A big job, as she would have to attend many of the Deb Balls to encourage the young girls to enter at Henty, then follow up with paperwork as most girls had never been to Henty before. Mary understood what many of the girls would worry about from her own experiences, so paper work often included directions to Henty, as well as specific details of the hall layout and procedures.

Mary was a driving force behind the 1986 Town Centenary, which was an enormous task that saw her working on details to the wee hours of many mornings for many months trying to meet deadlines.  Another major event, The Dale Family Reunion at Mansfield, was a special event organised by Mary.

In later years Mary has organised many bus trips, for Rotary, Camera Club, etc, to  Bright, Canberra & the Moscow Circus to name a few, using her job as Checkout chick to advertise the events. Not content to just organise the bus & the destination, snacks & drinks always seemed to appear when Mary was around, and the trip always made a profit.

Over the years Rotary has been a special love of Mary’s, being the back up to Les’s involvement, since he was a charter member in 1958.

Apart from the involvement with the balls, Mary provided many cups of tea/coffee & scones at Rotary working bees at the paper shed, renovating & painting of the Girl Guides home, the field day gates and any other event.

When Les was President in 1973-74 & 80-81, their house was open after many meetings for fellowship, and often the wives met there for a meal.

Mary was delighted to be one of the first women to join the Henty Rotary Club when women were accepted as members in 2006.  She attended 4 World conferences of Rotary, and many district conferences, encouraging many couples to go too thus ensuring Henty’s good attendance there. She was honoured to receive a Paul Harris Fellowship being a highly esteemed honour in Rotary.

Family has been very important to Mary, keeping in close contact with Narelle, Ken & Phillip, and being excited when they married.  As the Grandchildren came along Mary rejoiced, and took an interest in what they were doing, and happy to help with them. She has a good connection with all her grandchildren and now her great grandchildren.

Mary has enjoyed working in the shops. It has been not only their career, but also their hobby. Spending evenings and weekends doing bookwork, and undertaking business improvements. Furthermore, extending into their holidays - who else would look at other stores- not for buying goods, but for ideas.   She had a great relationship with the customers and regarded her staff as extended family. Many past employees remember fondly their time with us and stay in contact and visit us.

Mary worked full-time with Les from when they were married until Les and Mary’s health started failing 18 months ago. They each brought something unique to their partnership. When they were persuaded to expand down Sladen St and buy the supermarket, it was daunting, but over the years everything they have done has been together and flourished. They were 2 halves of a whole.

Somehow Mary managed to be a wife, mother and work full time before it was the excepted norm.  Remember the Hyway Store was 7 days a week.  She also had high ideals – always had a table cloth on the table for meals, the family sat and ate at the table together, and she had fresh flowers on the table from her flower garden.

Mary made most of her and Narelle’s clothes, including Mother and Daughter dresses. You always saw Mary with makeup on, red lipstick and nails and her hair done. She cooked beautiful meals, and cakes and slices, with many cakes made for various street stalls, and events round Henty. Narelle can remember the 30 dinner plates with the wide variety of cakes for the Belle of Debs ball supper that Mary made, as well as organising this event.  

Brandy snaps, sponge lilies, powder puffs and cream puff to name a few. Mary would whip up a cake or scones for a Rotary working bee or staff birthday.

In 2012 Mary got Bowel cancer, luckily following an operation and all was fine. In 2016 both Les & Mary got Cancer and the last two years has seen their health fluctuating. A united family approach of care developed, with both of them looking after each other, and help from Ken, Narelle & Phillip. We wish to thank all the health professionals, carers, our staff, friends and customers for your support, thoughts, kind deeds, well wishes and food over the past 2 years.  It has been greatly appreciated.

In January she found out her time was limited, but she had a couple of goals to strive for.  She was determined to be here and lucid, for Ken’s ordination as a Deacon on 25th January. We can all remember how happy and proud she was that night.

She entered hospital on Monday last week, and declined quite rapidly.  She was happy to hear that Jason & Rae had a darling daughter on St Valentine’s Day, before quietly slipping away Sunday morning with family by her side. 

Left to mourn Mary is her husband and partner of 59 years, Les and her loved children and their families: Narelle, Ken, Phillip and Erin, Shane & Kristen, Montanna and Indy; Jason, Rae and Tilly; Grant, Sherree, Ashtyn, Milly & Cohen Morey;   Elizabeth; Thomas & Jade Dale.