Once a very notable Noosan, Joyce Atter-Freer died on 23 February in England, with her beloved son Rodger Macdonald at her bedside.
At the grand old age of 102, she outlived most of her contemporaries.
But a younger generation will recall her leading role in the Noosa Lionesses’ irreverent performances at Noosa Arts in such theatrical triumphs as CinderFella.
Joyce was also the driving force behind the Cinderella Op shops and fashion parades, raising money for the Cancer Fund.
Joyce and her then partner Robert Clark arrived in Sunshine Beach from New Zealand in the 1980s.
After Robert’s death Joyce shifted to Noosa Heads and eventually met and married former New Zealand politician Warren Freer. They moved to New Zealand and when Warren died, Joyce decided to return to her native England to be closer to her son.
Her 100th birthday party made the local press.
Joyce lived a very full and active life, being the first female social worker to work in male prisons and the instigator of New Zealand’s Meals on Wheels organisation.
As the 100th birthday newspaper article recorded, she was also very proud of having been a sex counsellor, and having run an extremely upmarket dress shop in Brighton at the end of World War II.
Very much an original, Joyce lived by her own rules and was a refreshingly free spirit, ignoring age, gender and petty niceties. She made the world a happier place for many people, even spending her last few years creating greeting cards – the proceeds benefiting a charity for cats. A hundred-plus years, and not a second wasted.
