Births, engagements, marriages and vale notices

Vale

Penny Roberts (Andrews, 1992)
17 July 1974 – 26 March 2024

Penny Roberts (nee Andrews) died peacefully surrounded by her family on Tuesday 26 March 2024. Penny was born in Gosford, NSW and attended Pymble from Year 6 to 12 as a Boarder in Lang House. Working in Sydney and London as a political media and policy advisor through to a corporate affairs executive, Penny enjoyed a successful career, strategically advising on numerous major infrastructure and public projects. Penny courageously fought bowel cancer for close to three years, continuing to work, build a home and support her large network of family and friends. She is survived by her husband Mark and her children Andy and Vivienne. Penny will be desperately missed by her friends including those from Pymble who remember her rocking a pair of jeans like no one else and how terrifying she was on the hockey pitch – and sometimes off the hockey pitch too! A brilliant, intelligent and dangerous woman to the end. Vale Penny.

Donations to Bowel Cancer Australia in Penny’s memory are welcome at: https://www.mycause.com.au/p/342681/remembering-penny-roberts

Mrs Jacqueline J.Q. Worledge Judell  

26 April 1927 – 10 February 2020

Pymble Ladies’ College Librarian 1967 – 1987

Mrs Jacqueline Judell was the head librarian at Pymble Ladies’ College for 21 years (1967-1987).  She was involved with girls from all years while at Pymble and had a huge impact on many of their schooling lives.  Many of the girls who knew her may be surprised to learn that prior to being their teacher, she worked as a scientist both in Australia and internationally.  Mrs Judell had some really interesting experiences and made a lot of connections through her wonderful ability to engage with people, her thirst for knowledge and undying curiosity.

Jacqueline grew up in the eastern suburbs in Sydney at a time when that area was an eclectic mix of classes. Sailors, fishermen, ironing ladies, businessmen, the very wealthy all lived there side by side. Her father was an engineer with the railways after emigrating from Scotland and one of her mum’s good friends was Mrs Doyle of Doyle’s Restaurant fame.  She was the eldest of three girls and was named after her father and mother’s nicknames, Jack and Joy.

Jacqueline said she had an idyllic childhood. She played in the caves at The Gap, and in the harbour. There were children all around and she loved visiting the harbour master who lived at the end of the road.  Another part of the family’s life was centred around the Congregational Church in Vaucluse which was the closest in the area to the Scots Church. They met old friends from Scotland at the Scottish Club.

Jacqueline walked to Vaucluse Public until they transferred her to Woollahra Demonstration School in Year 5. That meant a tram ride and a long walk up Ocean Avenue.  Here they did botany lessons in Centennial Park. She kept that work book – her drawings were amazing.

Her next school was Sydney Girl’s High where she became Head Prefect. She loved hockey and would often talk of the games at Rushcutters’ Bay Park. Her other passions were reading and languages. She learnt Latin, French and German. World War II started the year Mrs Judell started at high school.

As a young child, Jacqueline had seen much hardship due to the depression, now there were more changes. Her father became involved in the war effort with some undercover work. He moved the family into a flat in Vaucluse while he was based in Papua New Guinea.  From the flat in Hopetoun Avenue she would take herself over to the gardens at Vaucluse House. In those days it was like a jungle with vines you could swing on!

Jacqueline’s  father was forward thinking and expected his three daughters to go to university. She started a Bachelor of Science Degree at Sydney University. There were only four girls in the course. Her aim was to do food technology which was a postgraduate course.

Jacqueline loved music and she played in a jazz band with her friends while they were at uni. She could play by ear- “ only in the key of E” she would say. She carried this love of music throughout her life and shared it with her daughter and grandchildren, with her daughter going on to become a piano and cello teacher.

After university, she was offered a job to solve the riddle of the oil separating from peanut butter in the jar or as the technical librarian for ICI. She was thrilled to accept the librarian position as this combined her love of reading with science. While she was in this job, a young handsome man, from the Melbourne branch, was doing a revamp job on one of the chemical factories for ICI. The young men were encouraged to have lunch with the young women and thus the future Mrs Judell, met Mr Judell.

Jacqueline’s mother had spent a whole year sewing clothes for her to visit “home”. Home was Glasgow, Scotland. Thus she left Australian shores for the following four years. In Scotland she worked in a laboratory doing experiments researching the functions of the pituitary gland. She remembers a person coming in saying “The King is dead. Long live the Queen”. Mrs Judell saw the coronation procession on February 6, 1952. She had a ticket and sat in one of the stands along the road.

Jacqueline came back to Sydney and was very excited to get a position with the Atomic Energy Commission under Professor Baxter. At the same time, she was doing her postgraduate course in librarianship. Meanwhile, Mr Judell had gone back to Adelaide and then to Rum Jungle to work on a Uranium mine. He also met Professor Baxter who asked him to do a PHD on whether sodium boiled with or without bubbles – a very important question when looking for an immersion medium for a uranium rod . Thus Jacqueline and Trevor Judell’s paths crossed again. Meanwhile Jacqueline left the shores of Australia again. This time she was flown on a top secret mission to Canada and England to collect a copy of all the experiments using atomic energy. For this excursion she needed a working knowledge of not only German and  French, but also Russian.

Jacqueline returned and married Trevor Judell on September 28, 1957 at St. Michael’s Church, Vaucluse.  Married life started in a new housing area near the Lane Cove River Park in East Lindfield. Mrs Judell was working in food technology and Mr Judell was finishing his PhD and then working. Gillian Judell (now Gillian Miles) was born in 1960 and life continued.

When a couple of positions came up at Pymble Ladies’ College, which Gillian was attending, she applied. She could have had the chemistry teacher position or chief librarian. Mrs Judell turned the school library from a moderate affair to an amazing multi-technological two storey hub and one of the most important buildings in the school. She started in a library underneath the Chapel and worked for seven years on a new design to make the new Isabelle McKinney Harrison Library state of the art for its time. The IH Library is now the administration centre.

Mrs Judell stayed in this position for 21 years, making a difference to many girls. She shared her love of the written word, taught literacy, kept abreast of all the research needs for every assignment happening in each class and subject, and ran both primary school and secondary school programs.  She was extremely good with language and languages and ran a literacy program that helped girls who were struggling in English classes and those who were studying English as a second language.

Once she had the new library, there were meeting rooms for students and staff, tapes to make for language classes, tv classes for different subjects and photographic facilities in the back room for assignments. It was also in a beautiful bush setting. The thing everyone probably remembers from those days is Mrs Judell clapping. She would clap to get the girls to be quiet in the library.

Towards the end of her tenure, she was Miss Buckham’s social secretary.  Mrs Judell had a phenomenal memory for names in these latter years as she recognised the last names of her students when she taught children of the old girls who she had previously taught.

Gillian was married to Keith Miles in 1981 and moved to her husband’s family property in Rouchel in the Upper Hunter Valley.  Mr Judell was very excited to follow his lifelong dream and try his hand at farming life.  He fell in love with a farm 10 minutes drive from where Gillian and Keith were living.  After being initially reluctant, Mrs Judell decided it could be possible to leave her beloved city. In fact, she embraced the change with gusto! She did a course on small acreage farms, another on herbs and their medicinal uses. She planted lots of trees, did leather craft and planned fun days for her grandchildren that included lots of projects. She also joined the Aberdeen CWA and became their international officer. This allowed her to use her research skills and get involved in days at New England University. She helped them win two state awards. Not the quiet country retiring life for her! She also helped in the local libraries and enabled her grandchildren to participate in twice as many activities that could have been possible if she wasn’t driving them everywhere.

At the time of moving she was 60 and she filled those years to the brim until her health brought it to a halt and then a gradual decline.

As a family Jacqueline, Trevor and Gillian were a small nucleus and she was so happy to have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Mrs Judell was always supportive and encouraging to all around her. She could also be very opinionated and strong willed.  She had a quirky sense of humour and quick wit – life was certainly not dull. In September 2019 after seven years at Muarravale in Murrurundi, she gave everyone a scare but rallied once more enabling she and Mr Judell to celebrate their 62^nd wedding anniversary.  Before Christmas she took her second turn for the worse and had a few weeks in Scone Hospital where she was beautifully looked after. She then transferred to Strathearn House, another beautifully caring place where she passed away suddenly on Monday 10 February, 2020.

Jacqueline Judell is greatly missed by her husband Trevor Judell, daughter Gillian Miles (Judell, 1968), son-in-law Keith Miles, grandchildren Larissa Burke (Miles, 1999), Phillip Miles, Sarah Miles (2003), Tamara Miles (2006) and Kenneth Miles, and great-grandchildren Isabelle Burke (Year 9 Boarder), Patrick Burke, Clementine Burke (Year 7, 2026 Boarder), Lauchlan Burke, Harry Miles and Jack Miles.