We are Gary & Trish Wilson, and this is our story.
Gary & I met in 1969 in a Youth Hostel in Luxembourg. Gary had spent a year teaching English in a mission school in rural Thailand and Trish, with a school friend, had travelled overland from India to London and trained around the Continent. We each returned home, Gary to Colorado USA and Trish to Melbourne Australia.
After months of exchanging letters and tapes, Trish travelled to Colorado in March 1971 and we married in August of that year. We left the USA at the end of 1972 as Trish was homesick for family in Australia, then settling in Adelaide so Gary could do post graduate studies at Flinders University,
with Adelaide ultimately becoming our permanent home.
As a social worker Gary worked first for the Department of Community Welfare and then for the Crippled Children’s Association and finally for Shelter SA (advocating for affordable housing). Trish worked as an admin officer for Adelaide City Council in the Social Development Department.
Our son Zachary was born in 1977, followed by Annalisa in 1981 and our youngest, Cassie in 1990.
Through our two older children going to a Catholic College nearby
we became involved with the Passionist Parish of Glen Osmond/Parkside where all three of our children received their sacraments.
Sadly in 2006 our son passed having battled schizophrenia for ten years.
Annalisa married in 2007 and we have two grandchildren who are now 18 and 16. Cassie is back in Adelaide after spending 2 years working in Canada and 5 years in Scotland. We have had a long and rewarding association with the Glen Osmond/Parkside parish and enjoyed many Passionist Parish Priests, Father Peter Gardiner, cp, being one of the many.
It has been a privilege to have served on Parish Council, to be leaders of one of our 9 Passionist Family Groups, to be a Eucharistic Minister, to have coordinated the Brother Michael Christmas Hamper distribution for 11 years, and to be part of a committee organising Forums with guest speakers on social justice issues.
In December 2015 we travelled to Cambodia as part of a group organised by Fr Peter Gardiner to volunteer with VBC (Volunteer Building Cambodia) to construct houses for people in a village forty minutes outside Siem Reap. Our group consisted of 15 people: 9 from Marrickville parish, 1 from Hobart, 4 from Adelaide, 1 from South Africa.
Over the next 14 days we worked from 8am to noon, first building a house for a single mother and her daughter, followed by a second build for a family of 3. Our group members were such caring, generous people; we were all there because we were committed to making a difference. While working in the tropical heat was hot and tiring, nobody complained or slacked off, and everyone contributed with good humour.
After work each day we mingled, exchanged stories, did some sightseeing, enjoyed each other’s company and had a nightly reflection led by Fr Peter. This experience counts as one of the best in our lives!
Now both retired, we are enjoying reading, some travelling, gardening and time with family and friends. The parish just celebrated 40 years of Passionist Family Groups at Glen Osmond with a mass and luncheon. It was lovely to gather with leaders and parishioners to mark this special occasion.
The charism of the Passionists lives on.
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