Eulogy for Yvonne Braid OAM
29 November 1942 – 5 July 2025
Alan Harris McDonald Chapel, Wagga Wagga
Thursday 17 July 2025
Starts 10.38am
Ends 10.49am
Thank you (Celebrant) Jocelyn (Mason) and good morning everyone.
Yvonne Braid, whose life we celebrate today, had a positive impact on each and every one of us, but, more than that, her life of generosity, of giving and of selflessness will benefit so many people for so many generations to come.
Yvonne did so much good and her influence doesn’t just stop with her passing but will be felt seriously, honestly, for decades to come.
The organisations with which she was so closely involved and the many projects she helped bring about, have changed and have shaped our community and will do so for many, many years into the future.
That is the Yvonne Braid we all know … we all cherish … we all remember … and we all love.
That is why so many of you have gathered here today to say not necessarily just farewell … but moreover thanks.
And it is a massive thank you to Yvonne Braid for what she did and what her works will continue to do for all of us and so many more community members who won’t even realise that a particular program or project is in place and doing good because of her.
Born on 29 November 1942 in Wagga Wagga, Yvonne was the daughter of Araluen and Owen Southwell.
She was educated at that fine institution on the hill, Mount Erin.
At school, she was remembered as being “pleasant and lovely – a nice girl who excelled at dancing and who participated in all of the productions”.
After school Yvonne went to Wagga Wagga Technical College to complete the secretarial course.
Yvonne started at 2WG as we heard in 1958, embarking on what would be a long and remarkable career with that organisation.
Wagga Wagga’s media landscape was vastly different during her time at the station.
2WG, RVN-2 television and The Daily Advertiser newspaper dominated – they were all massive and influential entities in the local advertising and media market.
Not to say they aren’t now … they still are … but, put simply, back then they were just huge.
I cannot impress upon that enough.
At one stage during Yvonne’s time at 2WG the station boasted as many as 13 sales representatives, from its famous location where Fitzmaurice Street turns into Baylis, on the Wollundry Lagoon.
Here’s a little challenge: we’ve got enough Councillors and Mayors here today … and former Mayors … and we have, since 1998, a Walk of Honour in Wagga Wagga. Out the front of 2WG we need to see a plaque with Yvonne’s name on it.
We do.
So there’s a little challenge for those elected Local Government representatives to take away from today.
Yvonne had many, many roles at 2WG all through that golden and memorable era, when talkback radio and live sports broadcasts were a feature.
And when I say talkback radio and live sports broadcasts I mean local … local!
And to work at the station was to be somebody really important and prominent in town.
If it was aired on 2WG, Wagga Wagga people talked about it.
If you worked at 2WG, Wagga Wagga people talked about you … in a nice way!
They were heady days.
And Yvonne was in her element.
Everyone knew Yvonne and she knew everyone.
She was the Queen of 2WG.
She had widespread admiration and enormous respect in the community … and not just Wagga Wagga but right throughout the Riverina region.
2WG sponsored the big events and all the gala occasions in town, which were well supported by locals.
Always immaculately dressed – she was – and always articulately spoken, Yvonne had a lovely way with people and this made her so, so loved.
Early in her 2WG days she became involved in the 2WG Old People’s Home – that’s what it was called – it became best known as The Haven, on Bourke Street.
Her association with this vital community organisation sowed a seed that saw Yvonne blossom into the community charity champion she was.
There were just so many good things and groups which became so much better and bigger when Yvonne added her tireless effort and energies.
She certainly had the magic touch … and we all know that … and she had a certain way with people and organisations to bring out their very best.
And you weren’t game when Yvonne asked you to do something to say no!
Yvonne wasn’t just involved; she usually ended up running most of the groups to which she lent a hand.
That was the Yvonne Braid way.
It was not as if she wanted to take over, it just turned out that she was very, very good at leading from the front and bringing along others with her.
Yvonne was a happy soul. She was charming. She was funny. She was stylish. She had that lovely smile and you only have to look at the photo on that (holding up funeral service booklet). That was really Yvonne. That was just her to a tee. And she was someone, as we all know, with boundless enthusiasm.
She was such a doer.
Awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of June 2017, Yvonne’s accomplishments at the time included:
- Board member, The Haven, 1967-2013.
- She was the first vice-chair of that organisation in 1997 … and I acknowledge Ronda (Lampe) here today.
- Public officer, Rotary Club of Wagga Sunrise, 1999-2012
- Founding Director, Country Hope Trust, since 2003.
- Chair, Riverina Regional Library Advisory Committee, 2012-14.
It was not to say she stopped at that point. This was the time she got her OAM …
- Publicity officer, Wagga Jazz Inc, 2014.
- Chair, New South Wales Public Libraries Association, South West Zone, 2015.
- Chair, Ronald McDonald House Wagga, since 2015.
- Member, Committee of the annual Wagga Christmas Spectacular.
- She held roles with Police Citizens’ Youth Club and the Riverina Cancer Care Centre.
I could go on and on and on and no doubt there are people in this service today who will come up to me later and remind me of an organisation I missed but that, as I say, not an exhaustive list.
This was by no means the total list, but it represented her extensive involvement in charitable and community work, not just in this city but right throughout the whole region.
In 2008 Yvonne took the adventurous and bold step of running for local council.
It is not easy being a Wagga Wagga City Councillor.
There are always plenty of ratepayers who offer free and frank advice about what you should be doing and what you should not and I am sure our Local Government representatives would attest to that.
Elected to Local Government, Yvonne took this in her stride, and as with everything, she did a marvellous, marvellous job.
In 2011-12 she served as Deputy to Mayor Kerry Pascoe and I acknowledge his presence today and she filled the role with her usual grace and style.
People knew they could take issues to Yvonne and she would listen and she would act.
When Yvonne spoke at council meetings, things got done.
This was the Yvonne Braid way.
She served as a Wagga Wagga City Councillor until 2021 – it’s not that long ago, really – a fine contribution of putting her community, as always, first.
She also served on Riverina Water and I acknowledge the current Chair of that organisation Cr Tim Koschel here this morning as well.
I acknowledge the many council representatives including Mayor Dallas Tout and former Mayors of our great city here present today.
There are many happy stories about Yvonne’s life and how she always put others first and no doubt these will be shared and told and retold today and many more times in the future.
Since her passing, so many of her former colleagues have posted so many charming tributes, as Jocelyn said earlier, about her on social media and traditional media and I recommend you go on to Triple M Riverina’s Facebook page for what is a beautiful tribute, thanks to breakfast radio hosts Leigh Ryan and Jamie Way and Michael Patterson of 7 News Riverina.
Now you will hear on that from former announcers Peter Allibon, David Eisenhauer … and Dave can’t be with us today. I know he is watching online but Dave has given some glowing tributes about Yvonne. He’s on Sounds of the Mountains at Tumut broadcasting through the Upper Murray. He is just one example of so many who learned from Yvonne and then went on to other things.
But you will also hear on that Triple M tribute from Scott Levi, from Tony Pritchard, Southern Cross Austereo Account Co-ordinator Jess Bunn; from retired 2WG chief engineer Pat Combs and I know how much Pat just loved Yvonne, singer and entertainer Troy Fisher, from 7 News Riverina newsreader Kirstie Fitzpatrick, from former Prime News Wagga Wagga Chief Of Staff Doug Hogan, SCA brand experience lead and former announcer Danielle Jamieson, former 2WG and FM93 creative director Dave Lauder; SCA regional content director and former announcer Duncan Potts who is also with us today.
They all knew Yvonne well – they knew when she was the boss she was the boss and talk fondly of their memories of this remarkable lady.
I know also how much Peter Mahoney – a leading light at 2WG in the 1980s – and Peter was known then as “Fiery” for good reason and Yvonne kept him in check and that, trust me, takes some doing. And also the late Ray “Dossie” Carr of Tumut. We know what they thought of our dear Yvonne and we know how much they loved her and respected her.
Yvonne would not want us – certainly would not want us to mourn her loss but, would rather, wish us to remember her in the happy times and there were many, many happy times when she was so much fun to be around … she was … as Jocelyn said, the prankster. She was always there for a laugh, with a bit of good advice. And always there, representing our city, representing the people of our city and region.
Vale, Yvonne Braid and thanks … from all of us here and from so many more as well whose lives she touched.
We honour her today, we respect her and we thank her for her life’s work … and love her … we absolutely love her for the amazing person she was and she will always be for the people of Wagga Wagga and the Riverina and indeed beyond.
Thank you.
Jocelyn: Thanks Michael. That was lovely.