May Mundt a Biography

It seems that everyone does something for a reason, often an ulterior motive. Ivan’s kindness to May came with strings attached. He introduced May to the Pastor, and at a branch meeting, after dinner, King divined that “God had told him that May should sleep with him”. May turned on her heels and walked out of that church and out of the Children of God forever. Once again, she was on her own with nowhere to go. And yet again, a kindness from a Courier Mail delivery man ensured that May was able to get to her sister’s house in Mittagong. Safe for the moment! May finds the period following that to be vague and is apologetic about her memory regarding those years in Brisbane. I remind her that that was 63 years ago! There is no reason to be apologetic. The mind is a curious thing. Difficult times are often consigned to the scrapheap of memory. We don’t want to remember the times when we felt afraid, sad, confused and often at the mercy of the world. But May survived. Betty prospered in Kyogle, did well in school and finished her studies and got out into the world of secretarial work. May got herself cleaning work and baby-sitting work for professional families in Brisbane and moved into a unit with the help of her Deserted Wife’s Pension and welcome rent payment from Betty who was now working for a transport company. May was however, very lonely. She did not have any contact with her other four children, she had little money, but at last she was now stable and finally after 35 years of life, May was in charge of her own destiny, for the first time. On occasions through the ensuing years, May met up with her children, Rodney in Brisbane when he was there for work, for instance. May did not however, get invited to Joan’s wedding. Nor was she invited to Rodney’s or Robert’s wedding! So many fences to mend after all those years. And they are being mended slowly. May did however get to be with her daughter Betty on her wedding day.

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