John Gibbs posted on November 14, 2010 16:50
Jan was awarded a Paul Harris Fellowship Award on the Police Officer of the Year Presentation night of 21 September 2010 and a very proud husband prepared her CV. This night was chosen as Jan is a Volunteer In Policing. The CV is nothing short of endearing. The CV is as follows;
Jan still’s life started on the 6th January 1936 {sorry Mum}. Born to Nellie and Bob Bullock, her first hurdle in life was the day her parents decided not to give her a middle name and boy, have we heard about it ever since.
She lived modestly in inner Sydney with her family doing well at school especially with English and home studies. She has lived through a war and through hard times as many of us have but Jan has always been realistic and helpful.
Then on that day February 25th 1961 she married Les and in her words not mine, life hasn’t been the same since. Out popped Melinda and David within a few years and as many women do there she stayed until 1978 when she decided to get some of her life back and work full time. Jan successfully ran the office of Rollco until she left to care for her Mum for 4 years whom was ill and fragile. She didn’t complain once.
That was a short summary of her life until she applied to an advertisement in the paper for a police volunteer. This took her interest and the rest is history.
Jan really enjoys her many roles at the police station from filing, taking minutes at local meetings, mixing with the community to more in-depth matters. She enjoys the variety of the jobs and the wonderful people that she meets and deals with frequently and believe it or not, I think she is even getting used to having her photo taken thanks to Ben
Her helpful and friendly nature has been her asset with no job being a problem or a chore she really, really enjoys it. I personally will never forget her story of visiting the Adults only shops, which on her first job was a definite eye opener and always gives us a laugh at family dinners.
Her grandson Jack said in the beginning, “I think Granma is a bit too old to have a gun’’ but they are so proud telling friends that their Granma is in the police force and she looks pretty awesome in her uniform. Even her Mum whom is 98 years young gets a bit of a proud moment when she visits after work in her uniform her face lights up and I know if she was able to attend the Police Officer of the Year night, she would have told us how proud she is of her.
All of us that know Jan respect her for her hard work, friendliness and dedication to whatever she puts her mind to from helping out at her Mums Nursing home, taking turns and helping Les at the Saturday markets, being a former member of Inner Wheel to doing her best with the police, she is a true Australian with the Aussie spirit, always helping out where the need arises and wherever she is needed.
She values her friends and family and in the past years her family has grown to include those people with whom she works with both her co-police volunteers and the police with whom she deals with and can’t speak highly enough of.
On a closing note, we as a family are so proud of her and what she has accomplished in her life so far especially her role as a police volunteer she is an inspiration to all who meet and know her. Well done Jan and congratulations.