Rest in Peace Tigergran
- Thread starter king_sirro
- Start date
Arr Kay's secret is out… I remember she used to say ' A lady never reveals her age'. I loved that about her... her lady like, very polite and proper ways. I will miss her so much. Her voice, her smile her everything.
I will most definately be there to farewell such an amazing woman.
I will most definately be there to farewell such an amazing woman.
With the season fast approaching, and the levels of excitement around here edging ever closer to fever pitch, It is sad that one of our most passionate will be missing out on what is shaping up as a massive season for the club. Hopefully the team can draw a little on her as inspiration to get the job done….
TurnStyle
Well-known member
ill be having my own minute's silence for tigergran tomorrow at 11am WST.
farewell tigergran.
farewell tigergran.
Frazer4Wests
New member
Me and the Family are all wearing Wests Tigers gear today in respect for Kay.
At 1.30pm today i will take a moment to reflict on what she meant to me.
I hope the heavenly corprate box is a good one.
UTT.
At 1.30pm today i will take a moment to reflict on what she meant to me.
I hope the heavenly corprate box is a good one.
UTT.
Citizen_Tiger
New member
Tiger Gran I'm estimating, would have been a fervant Tiger supporter for probably 60 years? That sort of support really deserves acknowledgement and I'm wondering if one of the forum's contributors, preferably one with a contact or two at Concord, might suggest the team consider wearing black armbands as a mark of respect? This is nothing less than Kay deserves IMO and would be a worthy tribute to a great person
Great Idea CT.
I know the powers that be have already discussed stuff. I don't know what though….
[](http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/197/40588610150548808490765.jpg/)
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Big thanks to Tony Adams for adding this to the first edition of RLW this week. After hearing how much Kay meant to us and how popular she was with the team, he made sure Kay was mentioned in this week's RLW.
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Big thanks to Tony Adams for adding this to the first edition of RLW this week. After hearing how much Kay meant to us and how popular she was with the team, he made sure Kay was mentioned in this week's RLW.
westTAHger
Well-known member
I attended the service at Orange yesterday.
As requested people who attended wore black and gold, and wests-tigers jersey.
Fittingly the final song played was "Eye of the Tiger"
Black and Gold balloons were set free outside to celebrate a wonderful human - Tigergran.
As requested people who attended wore black and gold, and wests-tigers jersey.
Fittingly the final song played was "Eye of the Tiger"
Black and Gold balloons were set free outside to celebrate a wonderful human - Tigergran.
GoldXR50Leroy
New member
@Citizen Tiger said:
The trial at Gosford tonight will see both sides wearing black arm bands in memory of Sean Burns who was the strength & conditioning coach at both the Tigers & the Eels, hopefully then there will be 2 minutes of silence instead of the customary 1, 120 seconds of dead silence please!.
@westTAHger said:
It really was a celebration of Kay's life. It didn't make it any easier to say goodbye though. I recognised quite a few forummers there. I'm sure Kay would have been smiling down on us all.
RIP Kay …
NZTiger
Well-known member
Still can't believe she's gone, guys.
We'll miss you Kay.
Hope the Tigers win a premiership & is some way dedicated in her honour.
The Tigers have lost their no.1 supporter.
RIP Tigergran
xxx
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_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_
We'll miss you Kay.
Hope the Tigers win a premiership & is some way dedicated in her honour.
The Tigers have lost their no.1 supporter.
RIP Tigergran
xxx
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_Posted using RoarFEED 2012_
I was unable to make it back to Australia for the funeral, but I am most grateful to Stephen for posting this on Kay's Facebook page. It's anther marvelous insight of who Kay was and how irreplaceable she really is.
Eulogy for Kay McNamara – Stephen Sykes
Kay McNamara ushered me into the kitchen at the Kite St offices of the Orange City Council in May 1982\. I had just done a formal interview for a role with Council. Little did I know that this second interview was the start of almost 30 years of treasured friendship.
As we reflect on and celebrate Kay’s life today each of us will have a collection of experiences that remind us of her enthusiasm for doing. To Kay’s children- Neil, Stewart and Jillian and everyone here today - it will be the little things that we see or find that will trigger those memories, a scrabble score sheet or a recipe written in her hand, when some of you next play bejewelled or see her favourite Footy Player (Beau Ryan), when you buy a lotto ticket or line up for your own footy finals ticket.
Kay was born August 18 1942 to Stephen Johnson a plumber and her mum Stella a house wife in Balmain. Kay grew up surrounded by the roar of footy at Leichhardt Oval – you could hear the game at her house and her Dad started to take his two girls to watch the Balmain Tigers do battle in their preschool years.
She went to Orange Grove public school in Balmain and was Dux of the school before she headed off to the selective Fort St Girls High School.
‘Sweety’ as her Dad called her had a little bit of a wild side putting on the lippy and slipping off to see Johnny O’Keefe at the Balmain Town hall with her friends. During this period Kay developed a life-long passion for the King – Elvis Presley.
On completing her leaving certificate she left Fort St and started work in the Land Tax Office. She met and married Graham McNamara and that was the end of her working life in the NSW Government, once you married you had to resign.
After Neil’s birth Graham took up a partnership at an accounting firm in Orange and in 1965 they moved from Sydney. The move heralded a new life of being a full time mum in a new City. Like every challenge she brushed off her dislike for the cold and launched herself into knitting, sewing, cooking and parenting. She would often comment on how good she had been at these things. Soon Stewart was born and later Jillian – the daughter she had so wanted.
Kay started to work again as a census collector and by the early 80’s undertook volunteer work in the community sector and soon began working with Orange City Council in community services, as a secretary. I recall in the late 80’s an Occupational Health and Safety consultant was standing downstairs at Kite street and hearing a typist asked, who is that – it’s the fastest typing I’ve ever heard – “my only comment was that it’s Kay and she’s also always accurate.”
Kay was ‘middle’ Orange, ‘the litmus test’ and I would ask her view on an issue or idea as a common sense test about what was being proposed to be considered by Council. She could pick the mood of the community. She will be missed by her work former work colleagues and Council friends.
She had an amazing memory for numbers, words, and names. I would always have Kay handy at social events to fill me in on who was who and their names. She knew grammar and didn’t forget anything. She was an asset on any trivia team.
Kay also mentored many young staff. Deb Rooskov was one that took some mentoring and they developed a lifelong friendship.
Kay’s work and life ethic was “just get on with it”!
At work Kay was also the centre of the social organisation for staff instigating and managing the lotto Syndicate from 1983 with Anne, Barbara. Gina, John, Michael…. and I joined fearing that if they won I’d be left with no staff – our last entry was in January this year when Kay couldn’t lodge the form anymore. As Michael reminds me Kay had only failed in one task – winning the big lotto draw!
John Smith and Kay launched a non-profit organisation J and K enterprises and organised a number of staff events including the snow trip and the trip to the Warrumbungle’s in 1986\. We were lucky to survive the Warrumbungles as we headed off on a short 40 minute walk in summer but took the wrong track and ended up back at camp, not having taken food or water, 6 hrs later.
Kay battled mysterious illness for many years beginning with celiac disease but would often say “they don’t know what’s wrong with me” as cancer took hold and eventual won.
>
During this battle Kay remained Loyal to her Tigers, she continued traveling to Sydney whenever she judged herself well enough. This was a ritual that had begun on mother’s day 9 May 1976\. In the years following she travelled to Townsville, Melbourne, Canberra, New Zealand, where she would stay with our friends John and Marika and of course to England with the Tigers Grand Final winning team.
Kay was always ready to give things a go. And she encouraged everyone around her to do the same. She had a Wang computer the first standalone computer in the Council. She was an early adopter of the internet and soon became known as Tigergran. More recently she had a smart phone and took delight in checking in on Facebook. ‘Tigergran’ was a handle that became well known in ‘Footy’ circles as acknowledge in a Vale in the Rugby league Week this week.
She developed strong friendships in Orange I am aware of the closeness with Ingrid and her family, her close friendship with Christine Urbanski and with the Milston’s. In her early years she played tennis then golf often seen out with Chris Hannus. Later she joined the indoor Cricket side were her and Jillian played in the same team.
Kay left work at Orange City Council, having also worked at OCTEC with Diane and Andrew for a number of years in between, to active retirement in 2007.
In retirement she would often say “I don’t know how I found time to work” and that she “loved being able to do what she wanted, whenever, without having to check with anyone”. This freedom meant overseas travel with Stewart which she just loved - emailing whenever she could of her being snowed in or lost. She would say “Stu is so easy to travel with.”
She was proud of her children and loved the grandchildren Nicholas, Jade, Conor and Celeste – forever collecting photos of their progress. There were many in-family Jokes that she would tell, that meant nothing to anyone not in the know – best left to the telling by the her Children.
There were repeated tales: pointing out where Stewart coped a belting on the way to Sydney, or her immediate decision to sell the lawn mower after Neil lost part of his foot mowing the lawn the same day she cut her foot and had also gone to hospital all with Graham at home recovering from open heart surgery.
Of Neil she would marvel at how nothing ever worried him. She would say I did a good job there referring to Neil’s return to Australia from England to witness a Tigers grand final game.
A classic was me spying Kay in a well-known orange clothing store just hours before Jillian’s year 10 formal. Kay standing with arms crossed scowling at me through the window and Jillian sobbing at buying a dress. I smiled at her on her return to the office and she pointed her finger at me and said “you wait it will be you one day”.
But Kay was the one to make sure her children got to sport and school, she was involved working at the school canteen. Kay encouraged her children to have a go; to try food even if they had to say Up The Tigers before they were fed or to get them to put their hands up to get dressed. This is a legacy that has found its way to the grandchildren and our daughter Phillipa and Kay’s god child Julia and her son Maximus - a Tiger’s legacy.
Kay was proud of Jillian and how she had grown into such a wonder person. Kay was a strong willed person and it is little surprise that Jillian as the youngest child, with two older brothers, was equally determined. She would often say how good Jillian is as a mother and a photographer.
She would travel to Irene and Bob’s at the entrance and enjoyed those visits recounting to me her sisters resolve to stop smoking “again” and a leisurely pace sitting on the veranda. She loved her time with Phil at Bondi.
Kay looked after her mother Stella when she moved to Orange and then with other family saw her mother die at the same Hospice that comforted Kay in her final days. Saying to the children on her arrival at the Sacred Heart Hospice “this is where Nana Died why can’t I”
As her health faded she was angry that the hospital staff told her she was being forgetful. Again pointing her finger, these were among her last words to me, “Stephen one thing I don’t do is forget things”. As we say good bye we can all know that we will ALL remember - Kay McNamara – Tigergran.
10 February 2012
Thanks again Kay.
UTT
Eulogy for Kay McNamara – Stephen Sykes
Kay McNamara ushered me into the kitchen at the Kite St offices of the Orange City Council in May 1982\. I had just done a formal interview for a role with Council. Little did I know that this second interview was the start of almost 30 years of treasured friendship.
As we reflect on and celebrate Kay’s life today each of us will have a collection of experiences that remind us of her enthusiasm for doing. To Kay’s children- Neil, Stewart and Jillian and everyone here today - it will be the little things that we see or find that will trigger those memories, a scrabble score sheet or a recipe written in her hand, when some of you next play bejewelled or see her favourite Footy Player (Beau Ryan), when you buy a lotto ticket or line up for your own footy finals ticket.
Kay was born August 18 1942 to Stephen Johnson a plumber and her mum Stella a house wife in Balmain. Kay grew up surrounded by the roar of footy at Leichhardt Oval – you could hear the game at her house and her Dad started to take his two girls to watch the Balmain Tigers do battle in their preschool years.
She went to Orange Grove public school in Balmain and was Dux of the school before she headed off to the selective Fort St Girls High School.
‘Sweety’ as her Dad called her had a little bit of a wild side putting on the lippy and slipping off to see Johnny O’Keefe at the Balmain Town hall with her friends. During this period Kay developed a life-long passion for the King – Elvis Presley.
On completing her leaving certificate she left Fort St and started work in the Land Tax Office. She met and married Graham McNamara and that was the end of her working life in the NSW Government, once you married you had to resign.
After Neil’s birth Graham took up a partnership at an accounting firm in Orange and in 1965 they moved from Sydney. The move heralded a new life of being a full time mum in a new City. Like every challenge she brushed off her dislike for the cold and launched herself into knitting, sewing, cooking and parenting. She would often comment on how good she had been at these things. Soon Stewart was born and later Jillian – the daughter she had so wanted.
Kay started to work again as a census collector and by the early 80’s undertook volunteer work in the community sector and soon began working with Orange City Council in community services, as a secretary. I recall in the late 80’s an Occupational Health and Safety consultant was standing downstairs at Kite street and hearing a typist asked, who is that – it’s the fastest typing I’ve ever heard – “my only comment was that it’s Kay and she’s also always accurate.”
Kay was ‘middle’ Orange, ‘the litmus test’ and I would ask her view on an issue or idea as a common sense test about what was being proposed to be considered by Council. She could pick the mood of the community. She will be missed by her work former work colleagues and Council friends.
She had an amazing memory for numbers, words, and names. I would always have Kay handy at social events to fill me in on who was who and their names. She knew grammar and didn’t forget anything. She was an asset on any trivia team.
Kay also mentored many young staff. Deb Rooskov was one that took some mentoring and they developed a lifelong friendship.
Kay’s work and life ethic was “just get on with it”!
At work Kay was also the centre of the social organisation for staff instigating and managing the lotto Syndicate from 1983 with Anne, Barbara. Gina, John, Michael…. and I joined fearing that if they won I’d be left with no staff – our last entry was in January this year when Kay couldn’t lodge the form anymore. As Michael reminds me Kay had only failed in one task – winning the big lotto draw!
John Smith and Kay launched a non-profit organisation J and K enterprises and organised a number of staff events including the snow trip and the trip to the Warrumbungle’s in 1986\. We were lucky to survive the Warrumbungles as we headed off on a short 40 minute walk in summer but took the wrong track and ended up back at camp, not having taken food or water, 6 hrs later.
Kay battled mysterious illness for many years beginning with celiac disease but would often say “they don’t know what’s wrong with me” as cancer took hold and eventual won.
>
During this battle Kay remained Loyal to her Tigers, she continued traveling to Sydney whenever she judged herself well enough. This was a ritual that had begun on mother’s day 9 May 1976\. In the years following she travelled to Townsville, Melbourne, Canberra, New Zealand, where she would stay with our friends John and Marika and of course to England with the Tigers Grand Final winning team.
Kay was always ready to give things a go. And she encouraged everyone around her to do the same. She had a Wang computer the first standalone computer in the Council. She was an early adopter of the internet and soon became known as Tigergran. More recently she had a smart phone and took delight in checking in on Facebook. ‘Tigergran’ was a handle that became well known in ‘Footy’ circles as acknowledge in a Vale in the Rugby league Week this week.
She developed strong friendships in Orange I am aware of the closeness with Ingrid and her family, her close friendship with Christine Urbanski and with the Milston’s. In her early years she played tennis then golf often seen out with Chris Hannus. Later she joined the indoor Cricket side were her and Jillian played in the same team.
Kay left work at Orange City Council, having also worked at OCTEC with Diane and Andrew for a number of years in between, to active retirement in 2007.
In retirement she would often say “I don’t know how I found time to work” and that she “loved being able to do what she wanted, whenever, without having to check with anyone”. This freedom meant overseas travel with Stewart which she just loved - emailing whenever she could of her being snowed in or lost. She would say “Stu is so easy to travel with.”
She was proud of her children and loved the grandchildren Nicholas, Jade, Conor and Celeste – forever collecting photos of their progress. There were many in-family Jokes that she would tell, that meant nothing to anyone not in the know – best left to the telling by the her Children.
There were repeated tales: pointing out where Stewart coped a belting on the way to Sydney, or her immediate decision to sell the lawn mower after Neil lost part of his foot mowing the lawn the same day she cut her foot and had also gone to hospital all with Graham at home recovering from open heart surgery.
Of Neil she would marvel at how nothing ever worried him. She would say I did a good job there referring to Neil’s return to Australia from England to witness a Tigers grand final game.
A classic was me spying Kay in a well-known orange clothing store just hours before Jillian’s year 10 formal. Kay standing with arms crossed scowling at me through the window and Jillian sobbing at buying a dress. I smiled at her on her return to the office and she pointed her finger at me and said “you wait it will be you one day”.
But Kay was the one to make sure her children got to sport and school, she was involved working at the school canteen. Kay encouraged her children to have a go; to try food even if they had to say Up The Tigers before they were fed or to get them to put their hands up to get dressed. This is a legacy that has found its way to the grandchildren and our daughter Phillipa and Kay’s god child Julia and her son Maximus - a Tiger’s legacy.
Kay was proud of Jillian and how she had grown into such a wonder person. Kay was a strong willed person and it is little surprise that Jillian as the youngest child, with two older brothers, was equally determined. She would often say how good Jillian is as a mother and a photographer.
She would travel to Irene and Bob’s at the entrance and enjoyed those visits recounting to me her sisters resolve to stop smoking “again” and a leisurely pace sitting on the veranda. She loved her time with Phil at Bondi.
Kay looked after her mother Stella when she moved to Orange and then with other family saw her mother die at the same Hospice that comforted Kay in her final days. Saying to the children on her arrival at the Sacred Heart Hospice “this is where Nana Died why can’t I”
As her health faded she was angry that the hospital staff told her she was being forgetful. Again pointing her finger, these were among her last words to me, “Stephen one thing I don’t do is forget things”. As we say good bye we can all know that we will ALL remember - Kay McNamara – Tigergran.
10 February 2012
Thanks again Kay.
UTT
