Dynamic teacher an inspiration to many

A MUCH-loved teacher and member of the King Valley community was farewelled on Wednesday, with family, friends, students and colleagues gathering to honour Rosemarie O'Brien, a dynamic woman with a wonderful sense of humour who loved to help others. Rosie, who passed away suddenly on May 5 aged 79, is being remembered for her passion and resourcefulness, her big heart and ready laugh. She was a teacher at the Wangaratta Technical College - through its various name changes to Ovens College - between 1973 and 2001 and again from 2004-'06, and at the Wangaratta District Specialist School from 2007 to '19, where she started the school's senior program. Rosie's commitment to teaching was recognised in 2014, when she was nominated by her WDSS Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) class for the Victoria State Award for National Excellence in Teaching, and was named as one of Victoria's top 10 teachers. She also persuaded Ali Alexander at Wangaratta's Café The PreVue to lend her premises so that WDSS students could create their own restaurant, James' Place - a project which ran for three years and won the Victorian Education Department's 2015 VCAL Partnership Award. Likewise, the VCAL Spirit of Christmas Project, a pop-up shop providing food and gifts for members of the community, earned a VCAL Partnership Award in 2013, as well as a VCAL Intermediate Teamwork Award. Not that Rosie was in it for the accolades; according to her colleagues, her focus was on creating connections, chasing opportunities and encouraging young people to shine. She was also an engaging colleague, dodging the limelight and praising others for their input whenever she could. Fellow teacher and friend Chris Jamieson said Rosie loved to make others laugh, and many remembered her wicked sense of humour, practical jokes, and the cheeky emailed jokes which temporarily had her banned from the education department email for potentially being inappropriate or phishing scams. There was very little that could stop her from her teaching responsibilities; a colleague remembers one occasion when there had been a storm and Rosie rang to say she would be late due to the giant gum tree lying over her driveway - sure enough, she cut her way through and was at school by recess. One of five sisters born to loving, hard-working immigrant parents (her German mother and Austrian father met and married in Melbourne in 1928), Rosie was raised in Ringwood, trained and worked as a teacher in Melbourne, then moved with her late truck driver husband Mick to a property at Edi, where she continued breeding Anglo-Arabian horses and thoroughbreds. Her champion Arab mare Kate (short for Katishar) won best Galway mare for many years at the Royal Melbourne Show, and won so consistently in rural shows that Rosie stopped showing her to give the local entrants a chance. "She bred horses concurrently with her teaching, and actually taught to support her horses," Rosie's US-based sister Wilma Hoffmann said. Rosie quickly became part of the King Valley community, including spending time milking for local dairy farmers, and later moved into raising cattle. Wilma said Rosie was "much-loved, and operated in several different spheres, which didn't all seem to intersect". "In the time when she wasn't teaching, she was either raising calves or milking for dairy farmers," Wilma said. "She was always vivacious and friendly right from her childhood and teen years, and her personality was a mix of being very outgoing but also being happy to be by herself on the farm. "She loved the bush, and was very capable and willing to have a go at anything, to follow her dreams and be really good at it. "If anyone was in trouble, she was there to help; she was an amazing person." Chris said Rosie was primarily a textiles teacher at Wang Tech, but also taught home economics, maths, and information technology. Combining her post-graduate Monash University course with her enthusiasm for computers, Rosie was generous with her time and knowledge in helping students and staff master new technology. "She taught young people and adults textile design, drafting, pattern-making and millinery skills; she taught loads of people to love sewing, she taught loads of people to love life," Chris said. "She took textiles outside the classroom with fashion parades and competitions, and each one of those events she initiated or contributed to with boundless energy and countless hours of hard work." Rosie was involved in teaching debutante ball groups, and utilised her sewing skills in 13 consecutive school productions, making banners for the school band music stands, and helping to create an Ovens College reconciliation banner bearing the motto 'Learning Today for Tomorrow' - a physical example of her belief in fairness, justice and reconciliation. WDSS staff members recalled Rosie's dedicated mentoring and sharing of knowledge, and said her students were always fully engaged in hands-on activities. "Rosie was passionate, focused, resourceful and a powerhouse in getting things done - we would often receive 3am emails from her, before she went out with the cows," WDSS principal Alysha Jackson said. "She rolled into school each day in her ute, often with bales of hay in the back ready to take home to the cows. "She had a big heart, had fair and consistent boundaries, and each of the students respected her. "Rosie always fought for what was best for our students, in the classroom, at school, and out in the community whether on work experience or at James' Place. "Many of our staff looked up to Rosie as the pinnacle of an educator, and she mentored teachers and education support staff alike, to foster compassion, dedication, and a vision for students to achieve the most out of their education to set them up for their post-school adventures."

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