Bishop Thomas McCabe...Wollongong

Pictured is my sister, Lynette Wilson of Doonside, Sydney (nee Deegan).. I think this was her confirmation.  It could be a debutante ball.    Seen here with Bishop Thomas McCabe.  Tom was the first Bishop of Wollongong. He is  buried in the grounds of St, Francis Xaviour Church, Wollongong.  Thomas is my mothers 2nd cousin.  He was born at South West Rocks, out of Kempsey.  Related to the Lyons family, and all the other Irish families in Kempsey.

I was 9 year old in 1953 when he turned up at the Port Kembla Convent school.   Unbeknown to both Tom McCabe, or  the MLA for Wollongong, Reginald Francis Xaviour Connor (Rex) neither knew the family tie up... Rex my dad's 1st cousin.   Here we were all of us kids related to the two most significant people in Wollongong.  Two subjects you keep away from... religion and politics.   As kids, we were impressed ... Nobody believed or cared.   It was a bit of a coincidence.  My mother was a Catholic nun for 9 years.  A Sister of the Sacred Heart,  We also had an Aunty, a nun, Sister Hilarion, she went to NZ at Rotarua for many years.   Thank God mum changed her mind left the convent and then married a drunken sailor from Wollongong. Me and my brothers and sisters would never have made it.

Mum is still alive, here in Mackay. She moved to Mackay in 1980.  92 year old hanging in there.  She does not have too much longer.  Her health is fading.