Elizabeth Carmyl Winkler, known to friends as Carmyl, moved to Benalla three years ago to be closer to her son and grandkids, and took no time getting involved in the community.
This was something she had done in her previous home, Tallangatta, for more than 40 years.
On Monday, June 10, she was awarded an OAM on the King’s Birthday honours list for service to both communities.
Carmyl said she had an idea who nominated her, but had been sworn to secrecy ever since being told about the honour.
“I haven’t told anyone,” she said.
“Which was easy, as I prefer no fuss, rather than having everyone rushing around saying ‘woo’ and congratulating me.”
Carmyl said she had loved her three years in Benalla and was glad she had been able to continue her voluntary work in the Rose City,
“There’s a brilliant U3A in Benalla and that’s not something I had been involved with before,” she said.
“When I arrived I joined up with the memoir-writing and the singing group, and that’s been great fun.
“I’m really impressed with how U3A gives people something to do who might just stay at home otherwise.”
While that allowed her to meet like-minded local people, there were many more hours in the day that she wanted to use for the good of the community.
“The Uniting church is something I’ve always been involved with,” she said.
“Not long after I came here (through the church), a group of us made a CD for palliative care people.
“And for a good many years I’ve written articles for the Uniting Church Victoria and Tasmania magazine on various things.”
On top of that, she was struck by what she described as the wonderful work that Tomorrow Today does with young people in Benalla and has been involved in its preschool reading program for some years.
“I’ve just got back from there this morning,” she said on Friday, June 7.
“I do it over at Bernard Briggs (preschool).
“I got involved, as I’d been really missing having things to do with children.
“I found out they were looking for people read to kids, so I put my hand up.”
While she has done many community-minded things in her short time in the Rose City, which also includes being involved with the Benalla Food Co-op and its adjoining community garden, the majority of her community work took place in Tallangatta.
“I couldn’t believe when I added up it all up. We’d been in Tallangatta for 46 years, which is incredible, as we’d never lived anywhere else for more than five years,” she said.
“We never intended to stay that long. I was married to a teacher and before that, I was the child of a Methodist minister who moved every five years.”
Carmyl and her husband were raising four children in the town, and she was shocked to find out the primary school had no music program.
Along with another mother, Carmyl decided to address that issue.
“We started a music group, and it went for 14 years,” she said.
“We had 300 kids go through. We had waiting lists and all sorts, but it was just good fun.
“I don’t play a lot of music, I did teach myself the flute, and played the piano a bit.
“I’m not particularly good. I’m a better organiser than musician.
“But I really love singing in choirs, and I’ve done that all my life.”
As if she isn’t busy enough, Carmyl has also written five books.
“I wrote the first one not long after we got to Tallangatta,” she said.
“The kids were bringing home lots of recipe books saying get one packet of marshmallows and half a pint of cream, add some chocolate.
“And I thought, that’s not a recipe, so I wrote a cooking book for children.
“I was very careful to get our children to try out the recipes all by themselves to make sure I’d put all the details and instructions that kids could follow.
“It was called All by myself cooking book. It had proper food. You could make a first course, second course, cakes and biscuits and picnics.
“That sold nearly 6000 copies. It had four reprints. It turned out to be extremely popular.
“The other books have been more specific. The next one was about the history of the Tallangatta people.
“The rest were all about teaching Indonesian.”
Carmyl worked at Tallangatta Primary School teaching Indonesian for 25 years.
“I couldn’t find the resources I wanted,” she said.
“So I thought, okay, I’ll just write them myself.”
Carmyl said she had never done anything for recognition, and never expected an OAM.
“But I appreciate being appreciated, I guess,” she said.
“I’ve enjoyed doing everything I’ve done, and living in a county town you just do what needs to be done.”