Merle Lillian Crutchley

  General Notes:

Calvin Warby notes:
Interred in Ashes interred in parent's grave at South Head NSW AUS,
Merle: Both Merle & Tom's ashes were interred with Merle's parents in the South Head cemetery NSW AUS. The following is the eulogy following Merle's death:
Merle Lillian Bennett was born at Woollahra NSW on 18 August 1915 the only daughter of English immigrants, Sydney Thomas Crutchley, a saddler and Charlotte Crutchley (nee Loundes). Merle spent her early years in and around the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney assisting her father who was in great demand as a church organist and soloist. She attended Hurstville Public and Domestic Science Schools after her parents bought a home in Albert Street, Bexley NSW in the mid-1920s. She was a keen churchgoer, attending most services with her parents and brothers and teaching Sunday school classes. She was most proud of her confirmation at Saint Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. After completing school she attended Business College and became proficient at Shorthand, Typing and Bookkeeping. She acquired a position in the Accounts Department at Hordern Brothers in Sydney. At the age of fourteen, she first met her future husband, the dashing Tom Bennett.
The Depression and the deprivations of the era meant that money was extremely scarce, and bus, trains, trams and good old shank's pony were the normal means of transport. Despite these difficulties, Merle and Tom loved amateur theatrics and enjoyed the pictures, picnics, bush walking and family gatherings. Merle especially enjoyed the chocolates that Tom bought her. After a ten-year courtship, Merle and Tom were eventually married on 21 October 1939. They lived for a short while in a small flat at Maroubra, and finally moved to their new home in Beverly Hills NSW. Carol was born in 1942 and Christine in 1947. In the late 1940s Tom was stricken with tuberculosis. Merle held the family home together while Tom was hospitalised over a number of years at Queen Victoria Sanatorium at Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains NSW. She made many trips by bus and train, often taking her small children with her to visit him. Her own health at this time was not good. She eventually returned to work in the early 1950s to supplement their income until an unfortunate accident where she broke her leg very badly. After a long while in plaster there was talk of amputation but she underwent a bone graft operation instead. This was followed by some time in callipers. For many years her desire was to visit Staffordshire, England, the birthplace of her parents - a place she thought of as "home". The travel bug started to bite during a family tip to Tasmania in 1960, and from then on she and Tom travelled extensively, visiting "home" several times as well as many other countries. During the early 1960s, Merle returned to work. She enjoyed reading, travel, Saturday pictures, travel, the fellowship of the ladies of the Order of the Eastern Star, and more travel. Merle continued to work until her retirement in 1981. At this time it became noticeable to the immediate family that Merle was starting to show symptoms of an insidious disease, Alzheimer's, which took twelve or thirteen years to be formally diagnosed. During this period she suffered many life-threatening episodes. She and Tom battled with this at home for many years, and on her last seizure in 1996, it became necessary to admit her to full-time nursing care. During this time, Tom lovingly cared for her. It broke his heart to see his "Merly" this way and he devoted the rest of his life to her. During her time in the Nursing Home, she became increasingly unaware of her surroundings. However, on being told of Tom's death on 16 November 2001, it was apparent that she felt the loss deeply. She shed heartfelt tears and the Nursing Home staff said that she did not sleep that night but cried constantly. Two days later she was admitted to Canterbury Hospital with serious heart and breathing problems. She died peacefully on 24 November 2001 at 8:20am, only eight days after Tom. Merle was 86 years old. She was a loved and loving daughter and sister, a cherished mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and an absolutely devoted wife. Merle and Tom are now reunited and at peace. She is survived by her daughters Carol and Christine, grandchildren Mitchell, Kirrily, Gavin and Belinda, great-grandchildren, Charlotte, Madeline, Samantha, Carley, Jackson and Georgia and her brothers. Fred and Stan.

  Noted events in her life were:

• source. Kirrily Cant (nee Stock)

Merle married Thomas Alfred Bennett, son of Henry (Harry) Bennett and Margaret Ellen Warby, on 21 Oct 1939 in Christ Church C of E, Bexley, Sydney, NSW Australia. (Thomas Alfred Bennett was born on 9 Oct 1914 in Forest Lodge, Sydney, NSW Australia, christened on 9 Jan 1915 in Sydney, NSW Australia, died on 16 Nov 2001 in St George Hospital, Kogarah, Sydney, NSW Australia and was buried on 19 Nov 2001 in Rookwood Crematorioum And Garden Cemetery, Lidcombe, Sydney, NSW Australia.)