For the love of teaching

By Jade Lawton
RENOWNED teacher Joyce Hosking, who taught at the Pakenham Consolidated School for a quarter of a century, died last Monday aged 94.
Hundreds, if not thousands of Pakenham residents may recall a year under Mrs Hosking’s guidance while she was at the ‘con’ school, or later as deputy principal of Cockatoo Primary School.
Past colleagues and students recalled Mrs Hosking as a talented and thoughtful teacher and person.
Former Consolidated School principal David Cooper described her as one of those talented natural teachers.
“She was a tremendous contributor to staff morale and just a wonderful person that children, parents and staff could all look up to,” he said. “When she moved away to another school, it was our loss and someone else’s gain. She was an outstanding teacher and person, thoughtful and diligent and children would never dream of playing up on her. She and ‘Gren’, her husband, were wonderful people.”
Former colleague Collin James recalled Joyce as a caring and innovative teacher.
“Joyce cared greatly for all the students who ‘came under her wing’. There are many people in Pakenham today who have benefitted from her teaching, including those who now have children and grandchildren of their own,” he said.
Mr James said Joyce was one of five teachers in the junior wing of the school during the early 1970s who introduced new programs such as pet days, dress-ups, music programs and excursions.
“When the school purchased a bus in the early 1970s, which the children named Penelope, a number of the teachers obtained their bus driver’s licence, enabling many of the children to have a different learning experience outside the classroom,” he said.
Mr James said Joyce was one of the teachers who organised some great times for her children as they climbed on board to take part in many new adventures.
“Joyce was a mentor to a number of young teachers over the years and I benefited greatly from her wealth of experience during the five years we taught together in adjoining rooms,” he said. “She generously gave her time to help others and set an example for others to follow.”
Mrs Hosking’s son David said some of the nurses at Emerald Glades Hostel, where his mother spent the last six years of her life, were former students.
Joyce Elizabeth Pain was born in Ringwood in 1914. She won a scholarship to Melbourne Girls’ High School, which at the time held some of their classes at the Old Melbourne Gaol.
She married James Grenville ‘Gren’ Hosking in 1937 and the couple lived in Glen Waverley, before Gren’s work as a bank manager took them to the Kooweerup area.
Stuart was born in 1939, Keith 1943 and David 1946.
Gren then took up an appointment in Kerang and in 1950 left the bank and bought an apple orchard in Pakenham Upper, before Geoff was born in 1951.
It was after Geoff’s birth that Mrs Hosking took up her appointment with the Consolidated School.
She left in the mid 70s to take the position of deputy principal at Cockatoo Primary School before retiring in 1979.
She was presented with a tallboy cabinet at her retirement dinner, which was destroyed along with the Hosking home in the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983.
The couple rebuilt in Pakenham Upper, but spent the last six years of their married life in Emerald, before Gren, a former Berwick Shire councillor, died in 2001.
Mrs Hosking, who requested no funeral, leaves 10 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
She will be buried at Lang Lang Cemetery, next to her husband.