The College is delighted to celebrate the 100th birthday of Betty Davis (thompson, 1938). Betty was a student from 1932 until 1938, and she also attended Branxton in 1925.
In 1938, she was School Co-Captain, Dux of the College, Editor of the Aurora Australis, Secretary of the Student Christian Movement, Vice-Captain of Kinross House and Vice-Captain of the Tennis Committee. Betty returned to PLC Sydney in 1943 and taught English at Croydon and Strathfield during WWII until 1948.
The Thompson Family has a very long-standing connection to the College across many generations. Betty's mother, Lily Thompson (Crawford, 1906), and Lily’s sisters Mary-Maxwell and Jessie were students as were her paternal aunts—Jessie, Jean, Margaret, Kathleen and Grace Thompson. Her sister Marjorie attended at the same time as Betty. Betty's father, FL Thompson, was chairman of the College Council from 1940 until the 1970s. Her aunts were known as the ‘Thompson Aunts’—Jean, Margaret and Kathleen, and they later converted their home into a school which became Branxton, the College's pre-school for many years. Her nieces Anne Harley (1972), Elizabeth Tugwell (Harley, 1979), and great-niece Jessie Wiles (Tugwell, 2011) are ex-students. Betty's three sons and nephew also attended Branxton.
The College community wish Betty many happy returns on this special occasion—happy birthday!
From Aurora Australis, 1938
"We know that in years to come, some of our happiest memories will be memories of Croydon—and let us hope that fifty years hence we will all be back to celebrate once more another jubilee!"
—B. Thompson
