Emily May Gilbert/Hemera (Dudley) 1921-1885 - my paternal grandmother
Emily May Dudley, my paternal grandmother was always known as Gran Gilbert to me. Jeremiah Francis Gilbert (Jerry) was her second husband, but it was her first husband, James Alexander Hemera, who was my grandfather. Emily, or “Em” as most people called her was born 25 May 1900 in the small town of Dobson on the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand. She was the eldest of 10 children to Thomas Dudley and Mary Ann Johnston. She attended the Mercy Convent at Cobden in 1911, its first year of opening, but the following year as work had dried up the family moved to Ahaura north of Greymouth. She left school at the age of 15 with her destination being Slatey Creek, where the family lived. In 1916 her father made an application to the Education Board for a Grade 0 school in the Big River, Moonlight area as he had six children. It was granted and Emily was temporarily appointed to the position of sole teacher, a job she had probably already been fulfilling unpaid. Scene...
