Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
Mary Patane has lived in Ingham all her life, and over the past 67 years, she has witnessed the township undergo plenty of changes since her primary school days spent at Macknade State School.
“It’s changed a lot, and I don’t think there are many businesses that are there now that have been there since I was a kid – I’m thinking of dress shops, fruit shops, but no, none,” explained Mary.
“I went to Macknade State School which is still there - it’s a smaller school, but when I was going there were 100 students, and I liked school, and enjoyed going and because I went to a small school, some of the friends I made then, are still some of my friends now.”
Just last week on Wednesday the 22nd of January, Mary and her husband Sam Patane celebrated 48 years of marriage, and in that time, the pair have raised two children and made countless memories together. Time spent with loved ones certainly is a core value of Mary’s, and having just visited her daughter, Helen, in Brisbane, Mary cannot wait until she can see her son Tony and two grandchildren (aged five months and nine years old), when they visit again from New Zealand.
Mary’s late father moved to Australia from Sicily when he was just three years old, and she still speaks Sicilian here and there with her mother, who recently celebrated her 94th birthday!
“We had a few outings because December is a busy month, and for her birthday the five of us took her out for lunch as she likes going out, she gets all dolled up, and it’s nice that we can still go out together,” shared Mary.
“My mother is bilingual, and it’s actually quite funny if you’re to observe us, because she’ll start a sentence in English, and finish it in Sicilian!”
Still today, Mary finds herself gathering fresh tomatoes and preparing them as her father did to make exquisite pasta sauce to enjoy. When Mary isn’t working, calling or travelling to see her children, you’ll find her crafting and sewing up a storm, taking a minute to work on a puzzle, or visiting her mother in the aged care home.
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