The life of Eunice Emille Jackson
Eunice Emille Jackson (nee Heron) was born on 11th August 1910 and died on 27th April 2006, aged 95 years. She was brought up on the family farmlet near the Mangere aerodrome, now the Auckland International Airport. Eunice’s father returned from World War 1 minus a leg, so was restricted in his farm work — as a result Eunice took on a lot of the chores and supplemented the family income by delivering newspapers on horseback.
A great walker, Eunice would regularly walk to Onehunga to catch the tram into central Auckland where she studied at ‘tech’. In her youth she represented Auckland in hockey and won several cups for running. Once she began working Eunice moved to Ponsonby to live with her aunt, each day walking to Newmarket for work.
In 1963 Eunice purchased an old house in scenic drive, Titirangi where she resided. She later purchased a property in Ponsonby, moving there with her husband (a captain on the Devonport ferries) and her daughter. She joined the company of Beverage Services Ltd as their first employee and served the company for 21 years. Eunice sold the property in Ponsonby and purchased a state house in Orakei to which she added an extra flat, mostly with her own labour. It was probably one of the first of the ‘leaky homes’ but a few well-placed buckets took care of that.
Eunice still found time to give to the Citizens Advice Bureau for several years as well as to produce a great number of tapestries. She suffered from breast cancer which brought her into contact with the anguish of the parents with children undergoing treatment for cancer and thereupon decided to offer what help she could. She was introduced to Ronald McDonald House Auckland and was immediately impressed with their operation and wanted to help.
A trust was formed to administer her estate to the benefit of Ronald McDonald House Auckland, which has already received its support. The trust is named the Florence Heron Trust in memory of her mother, to whom she was devoted and is now together with again in the family plot at Mangere lawn cemetery.
Written by James (Jim) Brown, long time friend, employer and executor for Mrs Jackson’s estate.
In 2007 the Florence Heron Trust completed its contributions to Ronald McDonald House Auckland, bequesting a total of $550,000 towards supporting future families with seriously ill children, for which we are truly grateful.
The RMH Auckland Trust funds and governs Ronald McDonald House Auckland (48 rooms), the Ronald McDonald House Family Room (13 short stay critical care rooms) in Starship Hospital and RMHA St Martins (16 offsite apartments). It is a registered community charitable trust comprised of the following partners: Auckland District Health Board, Child Cancer Foundation, Heart Children, The Rotary Club of Downtown Auckland, Ronald McDonald House Charities and 2 community representatives. The House, Family Room and St Martins provide a ‘home away from home’ for over 3,000 families of children with life-threatening illnesses each year. The Trust through its staff and partnerships actively fundraises throughout New Zealand to achieve the $3,000,000 p.a. it needs to run the facilities and support its families. Charity Registration number: CC23591