GAYE Anderson was a trailblazing Ipswich icon, an irreplaceable, indestructible matriarch and a woman who knew how to get things done, have fun and live life.
Her husband Vern has lost his world, a family is without their dear mum and countless people have lost a friend.
On April 8, Gaye and Vern celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, just four days before she died.
Last Friday, Vern, children Charne, Dax and Amity, their families and Gaye’s many friends gathered in St. Paul’s Anglican Church – the church Gaye and Vern were married in – to celebrate a life well lived.
Daughter Charne Quinn said she and her family had been touched by the tributes to their Mum.
“It’s actually quite beautiful how many people have reached out,” Charne said.
“The staff at work have had so many people come in and give their wishes.
“She is an icon, I think, of Ipswich. I really do.”
GAYE was born in Ipswich on April 20 1950 to Claude and Estelle Meehan. She was the younger sister to Don and the older sister to Peter.
She attended North Ipswich Primary where she was swimming captain because, she joked, she was the only person who could swim a lap without drowning.
She later attended Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School where she made lifelong friendships. Her schooling ended at year 11 but her love of this school never did.
Even until six months ago, Charne said, she was still attending Old Girls’ meetings.
After Gaye left IGGS, she began one of the most successful chapters of her life, starting her hairdressing apprenticeship with Sawyers.
She stayed there about five years but Charne said it was inevitable that working for someone else would never be enough for Gaye.
She wanted to run her own show and create opportunities for other hairdressers, particularly women in Ipswich, but “maybe more so, she didn’t like anyone telling her what to do.”
In 1973 at just 23, Gaye opened her first salon, Gaye’s Hair Fashions at Leichhardt. It was the start of something very special.
Within 10 years, she had opened two more Gaye’s – at Brassall and Ipswich Mall – with another two salons, had three children and had nursed both of her parents.
“At her peak, mum had 17 salons and barber shops from Toowoomba to Deception Bay and 150 staff,” Charne said.
“Mum’s business was one of the largest family operated hairdressing businesses in Australia and Schwarzkopf’s biggest client.”
Gaye Anderson received numerous business awards, including three times Ipswich Chamber of Commerce business person of the year and Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame inductee in 2014.
“Hairdressing though was not enough for mum,” Charne said.
“She and dad invested in Australia Post franchises, taxi licenses and real estate and created an empire and a legacy in Ipswich.”
JUST as important was her extensive community involvement including Zonta, RSL and the Ipswich Hospital Foundation.
Son, Dax, said his mum “absolutely loved Ipswich and was proud to be born and bred here.
“She would boast to anybody who would listen about all of the famous people and identities who originated in Ipswich,” Dax said
But he said everything paled into significance compared to her greatest love, her family.
“Mum was there for every milestone in our lives as well as her grandkids’ lives,” he said.
“Mum always said that if we were playing marbles on the street corner she would be there to watch us.
“To us, she was the ultimate role model. It was an honour for all of us to be her children and a special privilege for me to be her son.
“But that’s not to say it was always easy being her child. I had a perm by the time I was eight and had frosted tips by 16. In her words, it was the height of fashion.
“She had uncompromising standards for us all and had no hesitation in telling us when we missed the mark or perhaps behaved in a way that she didn’t approve.
“Some of our greatest times as a family have been our holidays. Mum and dad made sure we saw the world.”
Amity Anderson said that until four years ago, her family thought their mum was bullet proof.
“She never rested, she never stopped; she was momentum on wheels,” Amity said.
“She was a tornado with lipstick. She was focused, relentless and she got the job done.
“Mum was never going to be told what she could and couldn’t do.”
Amity recalled the time Gaye decided to take up golf so she could spend more time with Vern and socialise on the golf course.
“Her only lesson lasted half an hour with the golf pro only getting as far as showing her how to hold a club,” Amity said.
“When she arrived home, mum said to dad: ‘I’m not going back. No man is going to tell me what to do’.”
AMITY said Vern truly loved Gaye and was “totally devoted to her in every sense of the word”.
“If she went to buy a pair of shoes and came back with a car, he just shook his head and said: ‘Of course you did’. If she went to buy film for the camera and came back with a Pomeranian, he just laughed.”
The past four years were so difficult for Gaye’s family because their indestructible leader became vulnerable for the first time.
“The woman who had never had a sick day in 50 years was brought down by the most insidious disease,” Amity said.
“Not once did mum cry about her diagnosis and even to the day she passed, she never shed a tear. She was so tough and she was so brave.
“She was our hero. She was smart and not afraid to show it. She was tough, but also kind and compassionate, driven but also really fun and funny.
“The only blessing of the last three weeks of her life were the moments that we all got to share with her; the quiet moments where we could lie with her and tell her exactly how much we loved her.
“She and I always said to each other the words of the great Coco Chanel: To be irreplaceable one must be unique. And my god was she was unique and is forever irreplaceable.”
