MORE than 200 people paid tribute to the matriarch of Wilson’s Fruit and Vegetables at a memorial service on Thursday afternoon.
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The life of Barbara Wilson was celebrated at York Street Church of Christ, with mourners remembering a woman devoted to her family, friends and the iconic Ballarat business.
Mrs Wilson passed away peacefully on Sunday at Gandarra Palliative Care Unit aged 86. She was surrounded by her family, which those attending Thursday’s service were told was fitting given Mrs Wilson’s love of her three children and their partners, her seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
“Mum was out rock,” daughter Pam Baxtor said during her eulogy.
“She was always worrying about others ahead of herself.”
Granddaughters Aimee Lofts and Melanie Fulcher spoke about their beloved nan, who could boast “the best veggie soup in Ballarat” and was a natural in the kitchen, always making sure everyone under her roof and working on the family’s farm were well fed with her “delicious afternoon teas”.
The legacy Mrs Wilson created with her husband Arthur will be what she is best remembered for.
Kaylene Wilson said after meeting Arthur during a trip to Luna Park, the couple married five years later in 1956 and soon established a reputation for top quality fruit and vegetables on their land at Warrenheip.
“The old saying of ‘behind every great man is an even greater woman’ is especially true with Barb and Arthur,” she said.
“Arthur worked very hard and didn’t have a lot of spare time, but Barb always made time for the children despite all the things she had to do.”
Many staff members of Wilson’s Fruit and Vegetables attended the service and heard of Mrs Wilson’s hard working attitude as the main shop assistant in the business’ first store in 1976 “only giving up serving customers because she could not keep up with the technology of computerised registers”.
In more recent history, Mrs Wilson took great pleasure in officially opening a second Wilson’s Fruit and Vegetables store at Ballarat’s newest suburb, Lucas – which she had great connection too, having been a member of the 'Lucas Girls' in her early years.
The store is also located nearby to a tree planted in honour of her father, who was in the first landing at Gallipoli.
