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| Susan (Cissie) Chapman nee Joachim 1878-1948 |
| “Cissies’ Story” My Mother, Susan Joachim (Cissie) married my Father, Bert Chapman (ex St.Kilda Footballer) on the 6th March 1916 and I was born on 30th November 1920, their only child. Sadly, in 1928, Mum developed the symptoms of early Parkinsons’ Disease for which there is, still today, no known cure. In 1930 Dad became very ill and was diagnosed with typhoid fever from which he was not expected to recover. However, with the care of Sister Casistrom St.Vincent's Hospital he made a full recovery, but Mum’s Parkinsons’ symptoms became quite noticeable. Her sister, Rebecca Joachim (Auntie Beck) came to live with us, and we all moved from Ellesmere Street Windsor to 298 Dandenong Road, Windsor. The memories I have of Mum, other than her ever-worsening illness, are that she was a great fan of Maurice Chevalier, a very famous French matinee idol, recording artist and film star of the day. She was a very astute card player – poker was her game, and both Mum and Dad relished a social game of poker and regularly enjoyed a Saturday evening at the home of Wally Davies and his wife in Alma Road. Wally was a fireman and he had to leave the game at 10pm sharp, because he was on night shift at the Museum. Mrs Davies owned the florist shop on High Street St Kilda, a few doors down from the corner of Alma Road. The sisters Sarah, Rebecca and Cissie went shopping together every Friday at the Prahran Market, and always patronised the same fishmonger Mr Claringbowl, who would be most definitely told if his fish did not meet the required standard. I was “delivery boy” and used to bring home the shopping on my pushbike. Mum enjoyed a meat pie (but it had to come from Patterson’s on Chapel Street). However, her pride and joy was her beautiful Jacobean dining room suite, complete with two carver chairs, six dining chairs and a sideboard, which was at least six feet in length (on the old scale) and always kept polished to perfection. We had a Chinese fruiterer call at the house and he was always welcome – nothing but the best!! His cart was the old-fashioned wild-west style, horse-drawn and very well known in the area. One of Mum’s favourite stories, often repeated, was the “day of the accident” when a car hit the back of the wagon, sending it and its contents, and the horse, all over our nature strip on Dandenong Road. No one was hurt, but what a commotion!! One of my earliest memories is of the “family holidays”, when quite a contingent of family members shared a house in Belgrave. They would hire a “Charabanc” – an old removalists van fitted with wooden benches to transport them (it would not pass a road-worthy test today) and Uncle Joe Cowen would drive his family in his famous “hand-painted” 1928 green Buick. Mum really enjoyed these holidays – but they were not without their traumas!!! There was a creek nearby and one day I tripped and fell in the water. It was one of the rare occasions when Becky raised her voice with words I will never forget “oh My God Cissie, he’s in!!!” Mum’s health deteriorated. She needed constant nursing and spent a few years in in a hospital in Alma Road, close to family and friends. In 1945 I was serving with the 4th Field Regiment of Artillery in North Bougainville when I was called home on three weeks Compassionate Leave as Mum was dying. However she rallied, her very strong heart kept her going and in 1946 she was transferred to the Austin Hospital (the old building is still standing today). When Shirley and I were married in 1948 we went out to Heidelberg by train to visit her every Sunday, although for the last five years she was unable to speak. Mum died on the 22nd September 1948 and the final words of Rabbi Kawadlo, who conducted her service, are a fitting tribute to her – “ A patient sufferer now at rest”. Keith Chapman |
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| Bert, Cissie and Keith Chapman |
| Keith Chapman & Harold Cowen |