Obituary
May Furlong
Born: 12 April 1909
Died: 19 December 2006
MAY Furlong will be remembered for always offering a helping hand to those in need.
The long-time Emerald resident died on Tuesday, 19 December at Emerald Glades Hostel.
In her final weeks, May, 97, was in and out of hospital with an infected foot which had turned gangrenous but it was old age that led to her death.
Her son, Graeme Legge, said her body was just worn out and it was her time to die.
Born May Aisbett in Ballarat in April 1909, she moved with her family to Melbourne several months later.
She grew up in Burwood and later became a school teacher and started her career teaching at some inner-city schools before moving to Emerald Primary School in 1930.
Not long after moving to Emerald, May met local storekeeper Albert Legge who she later married and they had two sons, Graeme and Peter.
May’s marriage to Albert was cut short when he died in 1958 but she soon found love again and married Les Furlong and moved from her home in Old Beaconsfield Road to Pinnocks Road to join Les and his four children.
But May was to outlive both of her husbands as Les also passed away in 1991.
Following the death of her second husband, May moved into a unit in Kings Road where she lived many happy years.
It was only a couple of years ago that May realised she couldn’t live on her own anymore and moved into the Emerald Glades Hostel.
May was always helping people and even opened up her home to those in need.
Mr Legge said when a local family had lost their home she welcomed the whole family – two parents and four children – to stay with her and Les for several months.
“People always marvelled at how she could cater for unexpected arrivals at meal times,” he said.
“She was creative with a few eggs, toast and a tin of something and made sure there was always enough to go around.”
When May wasn’t teaching, helping people in need, or at the general store she was reading her Bible.
Mr Legge said the Bible was always May’s steady companion.
“Mother loved God and by choosing to read much about him, the more her love and understanding of Christian truths developed,” he said.
May was also known for her courage and faced all problems head-on no matter what the danger.
In 1994 when still living at her unit, May fell off her walker when weeding her garden but instead of waiting for someone to come and rescue her, she crawled across the lawn on her bottom to the front door of her unit.
Mr Legge said after crawling to her unit, May saw that her walker was still by the garden and decided she could manage to walk back to her walker which she did without falling.
May finally made it back to her unit to make herself a cup of tea before going to bed.
Mr Legge said his mother will be forever remembered as someone who had a kind heart and helping hand for everyone.
