Obituary: Much beloved Dannevirke thespian and community icon Gay Edgecombe dies

Gay and Colin Edgecombe on their golden wedding anniversary in 2003.

Dannevirke community icon and thespian Gay Edgecombe made her final encore late last month.

Gay Ruth Sisson was born in Matamau on December 19, 1934, the second child and first daughter to Charles and Ruth Sisson. She was sister to an older brother, Rex, and younger siblings Bruce, Derek and Dale.

In her 90 years she packed a huge range of experiences which enriched the community as well as family and friends.

Gay was a strong-willed child, who regaled with stories of jumping off the roof when the older boys were too scared to, coercing Rex into numerous dance performances, and spent her youth acting and dancing and generally being the centre of attention.

At age 17 Gay went to university to train as a PE teacher, but withdrew from her course of study to marry Colin Edgecombe in 1953 at the age of 18. The couple had only been dating six weeks and were happily married for 54 years.

Gay and Colin believed that society would often ignore the dozens of things a person does right, and only focus on the mistakes one makes. In their view: “You should never let criticism from shallow people rule your life, their criticism is of little value.”

The couple worked a farm in Matamau for 22 years, they played a lot of cards, laughed often, danced around the kitchen regularly, and along the way had many great times, and hard times.

They shared the heartache of their home burning to the ground, their insurance not covering the cost to rebuild, and the sadness of selling their farm. Then they moved into Dannevirke and moved forward in life, together and filled with happiness, strength, and their love for each other.

During her life, Gay made an array of lifelong friends, many of whom had family members at her funeral to pay their respects, and the family acknowledged those friendships and that respect with gratitude and love.

Gay trained and became a hairdresser, owning her own salon. She also owned and operated a shoe shop for over a decade. Gay did years of voluntary work reading at the library, and for a number of years taught at Dannevirke High School and rekindled a love for teaching.

Gay and Colin had three children, and have to date had 11 grandchildren, and five and a half great-grandchildren - the most recent yet to be born - and in her own unique way, Gay loved them all.

But for Gay, her real love (after Colin and chocolate) was for the theatre. She was a well-respected actor, receiving a number of best actor awards at play festivals and after one such festival was even invited by the adjudicator to go to London to act.

Gay Edgecombe, stage performer and director.

Gay also loved directing and during her time in theatre directed well over a hundred shows, initially as an amateur, then as a professional director. Moreover, Gay spent many years tutoring acting to children, and she loved that opportunity to hand on some of her skills and passion.

One of the highlights of Gay’s theatre career was her 2002 national tour of the one-woman show Shirley Valentine and her performance was hugely well received by all who saw it.

Another role Gay played which hugely endeared her to the public was the direction of seven Ray Cooney farces over a period of 20 years, bringing a highly experienced group of local actors together to have audiences rolling in the aisles.

Gay died peacefully in her sleep on May 23.

A large number of family and friends gathered in the Dannevirke Fountain Theatre on May 29 for her “final act”, a celebration of a life well lived.

Dave Murdoch is a part-time photo-journalist based in Dannevirke. For the past 11 years he has covered any community story telling good news about the district.