The community of Sassafras and surrounds is mourning the death of a much-loved matriarch, Gwen Horner, who died recently aged 92.
Gwen was a life member of both the Sassafras-Ferny Creek Fire Brigade and the Ferny Creek Tennis Club.
Born Gwennyth Helen Dyer in December 1931, she moved with her family to Tremont, where her father was a flower grower on the steep slopes off Titania Crescent. She met Bob Horner at a dance in Olinda in 1950. The couple were married at the Sassafras Methodist Church in 1954 and so began a lifetime’s association with the local CFA brigade which Bob had joined in the same year.
Gwen was widely known in the community through her involvement with several organisations, but most notably the tennis club of which she was made a life member in 1981. Nimble on the court, Gwen played competitive tennis well into her senior years. She was also a diligent member of the local branches of the CWA and the Red Cross and was an active parishioner of the Kennon Memorial Church in Clarkmont Road.
Gwen had a fascination with local history and, along with Bob, was involved in the Mount Dandenong Historical Society. She kept scrapbooks recording local goings on and keenly followed the careers of the many young people she encountered.
Of course, central to her world was her own family including four children, eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Gwen and Bob would spend seven decades together until his death last August.
The 1950s was a very different era when it came to the involvement of women in the local fire brigade. (Full membership of the CFA for women would not come until the 1970s). At first it was quite informal. Gwen was among a group of local women, including who supported the brigade through catering or donations of food.
In June 1965, a “Ladies Auxiliary” was formed under the leadership of Jean Allen and Gwen was among the first to join. According to the brigade minutes of the day, the auxiliary could only be activated on the command of the brigade Captain or officer in charge of a fire. Still, it was a long way from the days when then Captain Keith Hughson would carry his own flask of water and, if it looked like being a long fire, a tin of fruit!
Gwen became a stalwart of the auxiliary, turning out to assist with catering at major and not-so-major fires, assisting with the catering for countless brigade functions, holding office within the auxiliary itself, acting as a co-ordinator, a delegate to brigade meetings and to the Dandenong Ranges Feeding Group.
Gwen was made a life member of the brigade in 2010 in acknowledgement of her service to the auxiliary. In 2022, CFA Chief Officer Jason Heffernan presented her with a medal marking 30 years of registered service.
