SAR Simon introduced our member Jo White for her Behind the Badge talk.

 

Jo was born in 1946 at Andover on Avon in the UK to Doris and Arthur.

 

Arthur had been a police superintendent before the war and in the period 1939-45 served with the Red Berets (aka the Paras) in North Africa,

France, Italy and Germany.

 

Her mother had cared for her own wheelchair-bound mother in the years of the blitz.

 

Before marrying Doris had been ‘in service’ in a stately home.

 

When 13 years old, Jo and her family became ten-pound-poms and emigrated to Australia and they took up a house in Little River.

 

She attended Norlane High School for a short while but then started a job in Coles Variety Store in Melbourne (Nothing over 2/6) — the site is now occupied by David Jones Menswear in Bourke St.

In 1965 she met David at OPUS (a jazz club off St Kilda Road).

A few months later he was posted by the RAAF to Sydney and the only way she could continue to see him was the travel with him as his wife; they were married in September that year.

Jo and David have four children: Andrew, Susan, Kelly and Benjamin.

In 1972 David was posted to Darwin. His posting ended in late 1974 and they left Darwin three days before Cyclone Tracy flattened the city!

In 1975 Jo sought to supplement the family income (David was a driving instructor) and she began to sell Nutrimetics on the party plan model.

Her goal was to earn $20 per week.

Her first party gave her $21.50 profit and she was hooked.

Many years later her annual sales were $1.4 million.

Her family is spread across the globe and Jo and David have eight grandchildren — all of whom have to be visited often and Jo loves to travel !