TODAY’S issue of the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner carries inspiring stories of perseverance.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Billie-Jean Raahauge was a broken woman when her husband Mattie Barber died in June last year.
As anyone close to her knew, Billie-Jean could have gone under.
With four children to care for, that was not an option, however no-one should underestimate her continuing grief and vulnerability.
Today, no-one will question her determination when she steps up to receive a scholarship at TAFE Illawarra in Wollongong.
Within a few months of her husband’s death, she had kept true to a dream she and Matt had shared, by enrolling in a Marine Engine Driver course.
This week, she finished the TAFE component of her Master Five course.
The scholarship will help get her to Sydney for the tough oral exams for her skipper’s certificate.
It reflects not just the hardship she has endured, but the motivation that has so impressed TAFE staff members.
Perseverance has also been a hallmark of the Davies and Murdock families.
Robyn Davies spent almost a year in the dark, after a rare brain malfunction caused enormous pain and sensitivity to light.
The Moruya grandmother had just taken over her first business when illness struck.
It would be many painful months before she could undergo surgery.
Mrs Davies and husband Boydy contacted the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner not to complain about their ordeal, but to thank everyone who had stood by them.
Batemans Bay’s Murdock family also knows all about hanging in there.
Lucy and Ray Murdock had every reason to want to put their feet up after their son Christopher underwent a bone marrow transplant, thanks to their daughter Emma.
Their lives had been turned upside down for several years as he dueled with a rare blood disorder.
Yet the first thing the pair did when they were able to move back to the Eurobodalla was set about raising money for the Leukeamia Foundation.
Perseverance indeed.