Deaths Of Islands People

Miss M. Scott Miss Mary Scott, a former post mistress at Konedobu, Port Moresby, died recently in Brisbane, where she had been living in retirement.

She was discharged from Army Signals at Port Moresby in 1946 and joined the P-NG Posts and Tele graphs Department, for which she worked till she retired in 1962.

Mrs. L Poulton Mrs. Letty Poulton, well known to many of the older people of Fiji, died on November 9, aged 91. She was born in South Africa.

Her husband, a contractor, died 31 years ago.

She leaves a son and three daughters, Mrs. Woo Kun Young A New Guinea woman who be came one of the heroines of World War II died in Nonga Base Hospital, Rabaul, recently at the age of 84.

She was Mrs. Woo Kun Young, who risked her life many times to help Australian soldiers escape through the Bainings area of New Britain following the Japanese in vasion.

Mrs. Woo also provided food, clothing and medical supplies for the escapees as they passed through her plantation at Klinwata, in the north Bainings, Her son, Jerry, was beheaded by the Japanese and she and her family were arrested and tortured for almost five months for aiding the escapes.

Mrs. L. G. Doherty Mrs. Lorna Gertrude Doherty, who was well known in the Lae district of Papua-New Guinea, died on October 22 after a short illness, aged 49.

She and her husband, a Works Department foreman, arrived in the territory in 1950.

She was a prominent tennis player in her youth.

She is survived by Mr. Doherty, a daughter, Mrs. Judy Bignell, and a son, Bill, a Works Department carpenter.

Mrs. B. Russell, MBE Mrs. Beatrice Russell, a pioneer of the Girl Guide movement in Fiji, died in Auckland on November 1, aged 78.

She went to Fiji in 1919 with her husband, who served in many parts of Fiji and who became Director of Education.

The Girl Guide movement, then in its infancy, attracted her attention and energies, and in 1930 she became the first Girl Guide Commissioner, an appointment she held till she left Fiji in 1943.

She was awarded the MBE in 1931, mainly for her work for the Guides.

Her husband survives her.

Mr. J. Maclean Mr. John Mac Lean, a resident of Rabaul, died in Brisbane recently, aged 83.

Mr. Mac Lean leaves a widow, a son Donald, who is a member of the New Britain District Advisory Council, and a daughter.

For a report, see p. 35.

Tamatoa Brander The death occured in Tahiti in early November of Tamatoa Brander, a descendant of a Scottish merchant, John Brander, who settled in Tahiti last century and married into the island’s now-deposed Royal family.

The deceased was linked with the Pomares of Tahiti, the Mai clan of Bora Bora, and the Tati clan of Papara, Tahiti. He was entitled to the title of prince.

Mrs. A. A. Roberts Mrs. A. A. Roberts, wife of former P-NG Director of Native Affairs, Mr.

Allan Roberts, died in Melbourne on November 21.

As Matron Alice Thorburn, QBE, she was one of the Territory’s best known woman residents, serving as matron at Rabaul, Salamaua and Lae Hospitals before being appointed senior matron for P-NG. She married Mr. Roberts in 1961.

Mr. R. F. Reid Mr. Richard Frederick Reid, a member of one of American Samoa’s oldest merchant families, died in Pago Pago on November 12. Mr.

Reid was a grandson of Edgar Reid, who went to Samoa from Scotland in the late 19th century. Born in 1911, he was the son of the late G. H. C. Reid, whose name the family business now carries.

The deceased was educated in Pago Pago and at St. Joseph’s Col lege, Sydney. For many years, he worked for the Port Administration under the US Navy. He entered the family business after World War 11, but lived in the United States from 1958 until late last year, when he returned to Pago Pago.

Mr. Reid leaves a widow, formerly Maud Betham, six sons and two daughhters.