ALLAN, Valerie (née Grant)

8 May 2020 age 83

Valerie was born in Adelaide on 28 January 1937 to Methodist Missionary parents, Dawn and Ralph Grant.

She spent her early childhood on mission stations in the Milne Bay Circuit and developed a love of both the people and their culture which remained with her for all her life.

It was always said that you could take Valerie out of Papua, but not Papua out of Valerie.

With the imminent threat of a Japanese invasion at Milne Bay, her mother, with sister Rosemary (who later married kiap Ken Brown), were evacuated on Christmas Eve 1942 per the Burns Philp ship, Neptuna.

At aged eight years she was enrolled with Methodist Ladies College Burwood and completed her education in 1950, at which time she returned to Papua taking up employment as a typist in Merchandise Department of Steamships Trading Company, Samarai.

It was here that she met Ralph Allan and the pair were married in 1955 at the Kwato Mission with her father conducting the service whilst mother played the pedal organ.

Following a honeymoon in Australia, Ralph was posted to Burns Philp in Rabaul where their first son, David Ian, was born.

After four years in Rabaul, it was decided to go finish and the family took up residence in Sydney where we spent sixty-five years of married life up to the time of her recent passing.

During this period a second son, Wayne Boyd, was born.

Valerie excelled as an artist and specialised in water colour painting of Australian flora and fauna. She exhibited in Sydney, London and Singapore and produced commissions for private and commercial parties. Her talents also extended to other arts and crafts, including dressmaking, embroidery, knitting, porcelain doll making, teddy bear making and beadwork.

She is survived by her husband Ralph, sons David and Wayne, granddaughters Tanya, Sonia, Tiffany and Lara.