Helen Walker will be remembered for her hard work and community spirit.OBITUARY
Helen Walker
Born: 15 March 1915
Died: 1 January 2008
HELEN Walker, one of Monbulk’s formidable businesswomen will be remembered for her great spirit and love of life.
The 92-year-old died on Tuesday 1 January, at her home in a retirement village in Knox.
Born Helen Gertrude Thomson in 1915, she lived most of her life with her family in Monbulk and The Patch.
Helen grew up in the hills and lived with her family whose ancestry dates back to the pioneers that first settled in the Dandenongs in the 1890s.
Her parents Lucy and George Thomson lived in Monbulk on a fruit, nut and berry farm where Helen was born in 1915.
Sadly, Helen’s father and baby brother died in 1916 before she got the chance to know them.
Helen grew up and went on to study teaching and soon started working at Monbulk Primary School.
According to the town’s historical society, Helen taught at the school in the depression.
It is also believed that there are still some residents in Monbulk who recall being taught by ‘Miss Thomson’.
Helen soon after met her future husband, Bill Walker, a builder and carpenter and the couple married in 1940.
Both avid sports enthusiasts, they played A grade tennis for Monbulk and Bill also played for the local football team.
But it wasn’t until 1948 that the couple started their own business when they built a shop premises and home in Main Street.
It was there that Helen raised her three daughters, Valerie, Elizabeth and Lauris.
A formidable businesswoman, Helen opened a lending library, a state savings bank agency and a shop selling gifts and electrical supplies.
The Walkers also let shops for haberdashery, hairdressing and to the English Scottish & Australia Bank.
In the following years Helen worked tirelessly and was also renowned for her dressmaking.
But in 1974 the Walkers retired and moved to The Patch and Bill sadly passed away in 1986.
Helen continued to stay involved in the Monbulk community and was a founding member of the town’s bowling club and treasurer for many years.
She was also a foundation member of the Belgrave View Club.
Helen was an influential, respected and involved member of the Dandenongs who also enjoyed expressing her creativity through dressmaking and many other craft activities.
She was 92 when she died and is survived by her three daughters, seven grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
