Milestones

Births

Kristen Otero-Lambert (Fuller), a son on 20 November 2017 and a daughter on 27 December 2019 Lucette Chu (Dillon, 2003) a son on 20 November 2019

Engagements

Tamara Creswell-Wells (2008) to

William Elvin on 6 October 2019 Rachel Lindsay to Leon Forbes

Deaths

Carolyn Beadle (Curd, PY 1965) on 8 January 2020. Carol was an

Old Girl and past teacher of business and information management at Dio. Sandra Chadwick (PY 1962) on 2 February 2020 Miwako (Miwa) Chapman (2018) on 24 February 2020 Joan Coates (Davenport, PY 1944) on 9 June 2017 Kathleen Cooper (1938) on 11 September 2019, aged 97

MILESTONES

Patricia Dalrymple (Robson, PY 1938) on 17 May 2016 Georgina Leslie Ellis (Lloyd, PY 1952) on 27 November 2019 Gwenneth Ferrell (Cox, 1939) on 31 July 2013 Mary Fisher (Abbott, PY 1942) on 19 February 2020 in her 95th year Amanda (Mandy) Gwynne (1977) on 19 December 2019 Elizabeth Hilliker (Foote, PY 1960) on 8 February 2020 Wene Margaret McMillin on 22 October 2019, aged 88 Deirdre (Dee) McOnie (former Head of the Junior School) on 19 November 2019 Eve Valerie (Val) Napier (Cashmore, PY 1947) on 24 November 2019, aged 90 Andrea Oliver (Brickell, PY 1955) on 27 October 2019 Lynette Paul (Tatton, PY 1950) on 9 December 2014 Shirley Rogers (Brown, PY 1943) on 22 November, aged 94 Ailsa (Dorothy) Terry (PY 1952) on 21 December 2019, aged 86 Janice Turner (Smith, 1980) on 17 January 2020

Achievements

Naoko Chapman (Akakura, 1987) gained a Master of Science (First

Class Hons) in Optometry in 2019 and a University of Auckland

Masters Scholarship. Anna Freestone (2011) graduated top of her class of 24 as a detective with the New Zealand Police in

November 2019. Sandy (Sin Ting) Yau (2004) graduated with a BSc in 2010 and is now a nurse living in Australia.

Note: PY is short for ‘Peer Year’ and indicates the year an Old Girl would have been in Form 7 (Year 13) had she continued her schooling at Dio through until the end.

Farewell to Dee McOnie

On 29 November 2019, St Mary’s-in-Holy Trinity was packed with past and present students, staff, parents and grandparents of Diocesan School for Girls to celebrate the life of Deirdre (Dee) McOnie (30 September 1947 – 19 November 2019).

Dee was Head of Diocesan Junior School for 22 years from 1987 to 2008. Under her leadership, the Junior School was an incredibly rich learning environment. It offered a wide and well-structured curriculum, a warm, happy, supportive but disciplined culture, and amazing opportunities for involvement in extracurricular activities, particularly in the arts. Dee was a very active leader in all these areas and could be seen reading a story or playing the recorder at assemblies, conducting a choir or directing a show, or cheering students and teachers on in a variety of endeavours. She was a wonderful planner of fun activities and celebrations, and there were plenty of those in the Junior School. The Junior School Fairs were famous in her day. Dee knew all her students by name – not just the current ones, but those from the past as well. They were all special to her as Junior School girls. Even at the end of their Year 13 year, she was there after the Leavers’ Dinner to ring the Chapel bell with them and to later admire them in their finery at the Graduation Ball. In the many tributes paid to Dee on Facebook, past students commented warmly on her amazing memory and ongoing interest in them.

Dee maintained her connection with Dio after she left her role and was a regular attendee at Old Girls’ functions, even after her fall in 2014, which left her confined to a wheelchair. Her courage, resilience and positivity in all stages of her life were admired by all.

Dee enriched the lives of so many people and she is greatly missed.