Chairman of Well-Being Australia Mark Tronson says it has been his privilege to have been a receiptent of wisdom from numerous such people leading up to and during his 18 years of founding the Sports and Leisure Ministry, 17 years as the Australian cricket team chaplain, and now 29 years in faith financed mission.
One of these people was my parents, Seymour and Joan Tronson.
Mark Tronson picks up the story: "Honour your father and your mother …" is one of the 10 Commandments. Seymour and Joan were parents well worthy of honour. My mother Joan went to Glory in 1995 and my elder brother Kim wrote for our father's funeral service in 2002 that each of us children could stand on Seymour & Joan's shoulders.
They were People of Influence.
Some historic background might be in order, courtesy of the late Bleakeley Tronson the family genaeologist.
During the 1400's the persecution of the Christians at Trondheim, Norway saw many migrate to France where the Tronson's became part of the establishment.
I have paintings of various Tronson's (who were titled "du Coudray") including a Finance Minister to Lious XIII, a Lawyer (who unsuccessfully defended Maria Antoinette) & a Bishop.
Many of the Tronson's escaped to England in 1572 from the St Bartholomew's Day massacre of Protestants. They prospered and in 1690 one was with William of Orange who defeated the Irish and subsequently was granted Estates in County Caven.
Thereafter, one son in each generation became a Christian Minister to conduct the affairs of the estate's Chapel. The family tree "parchment" 1580-1872 details this era.
The gold rush in Australia drew four of the Tronson boys to migrate and try their luck in the 1860's, one of whom was my great grand father, Thomas Blakeley Tronson who established a very successful drapery business in Gympie, Queensland.
T. B. Tronson had 21 children (at least), one of whom was my grand-father, Walter Seymour Tronson, who became a Queensland welterweight boxing champion in 1911, one hundred years ago this new year.
Walter married Jesse Lake an English girl where upon his father, T. B. Tronson gave him a dairy farm near Tewantin (Noosa) that he'd secured as a result of a bad debt.
My father Seymour Vivian Tronson was born in Gympie in 1917 and raised on that farm and we have audio tapes of Grand-Ma Jesse & video of Seymour speaking about those childhood years during the 1920's and on through the Great Depression. This is 'living history'. The transcribed text can be read at
http://bushorchestra.com/family_logo/life_of/TronsonBiographyWalter.html
My grand-parents Walter and Jesse Tronson left Tewantin in 1934 (eldest daughter Viva took on the fairy) to establish a tourist resort, Happy Bay on Long Island (Whitsundays), and the next three years, were years of sun and fun for Seymour.
In 1938 the Queensland Government was seeking dairy farmer's sons to select virgin dairy farming land. Seymour selected 200 acres at Crediton, Eungella (Mackay) and "Clearing it by axe" and he established a dairy herd. His diary of these years can be read at
http://bushorchestra.com/family_logo/life_of/TronsonBiographySeymour.html
When Darwin was bombed on 19 February 1942, the army had these farmers remain on their dairy's and produce additional milk for the USAAF base in Mackay. After the war, Seymour went on a working holiday and met Joan Wynne while apple picking in Batlow NSW.
Seymour and Joan were married in Sydney Easter 1947 and their three children were raised on the Crediton farm and in Mackay through until 1960 when they relocated to Canberra.
My mother Joan Wynne was born, after her father, a Royal Flying Corps pilot, Harry Davis, was killed following the end of WWI in an aircraft accident. Baby Joan was passed to relatives who later arranged for her to be cared for by Dr Barnados, and when 13, Joan came to Australia.
Initially, sent as a governess to properties around Singleton NSW, Joan returned to Sydney in 1935. Joan loved sport, played for NSW in cricket and hockey and developed a strong Christian faith at Central Baptist Church in Sydney.
In 1940 Joan joined the Land Army with her girl friends, sisters Jean & Joyce Qurono. Joan kept many of her Land Army magazines and documents which one our daughter's utilised in a Girl Guides Project (Moruya NSW) in 2003, winning the award.
Joan, an avid reader, developed an astonishing awareness of issues and had a way with the spoken word. Joan was chosen to speak on behalf of the Land Army Girls in Batlow at the end of the War and was offered a number of opportunities to further her education.
Joan declined all such offers in order to stay with her girl friends. It was at this time Joan met Seymour and it wasn't long before they became engaged.
Part 2 continues tomorrow.