John “Skip” Bailey

17.2
The Final Days for Marjorie and Rusty

By 1949, Marjorie and Rusty had settled on the farm at Korbel with Jillian, Jacqueline and Tony. They had another child John Peter who was born on 4th April 1949.

In 1950 Marjorie and family were farming at Williams, W.A., Marjorie received a telephone call from the RAAF Casualty section advising her that the body of her husband had been found. Her daughter Jacqueline remembers Marjorie was very distraught and Rusty had to carry her to their bedroom. Sometime after, Jacqueline was told about her father’s death had been confirmed.

On many occasions they had other relatives staying with them on their farms. In the early 1950s when Don Buzzard, the wife of Brian Sheridan Buzzard (Marjorie’s brother) was ill, Marjorie and Rusty took Brian and Don’s young children in and cared for them.

Teresa Buzzard at Doodenanning

Philip Buzzard at Cunderdin

Another tragedy, for the Cuming family, occurred on 4th April 1959. Marjorie’s eldest son Millar Anthony (Tony), aged eighteen years, died in a car accident. After a hard day’s work on the farm, Tony had travelled the 48km to Cunderdin to play basketball. Just before 12am he was on his way home when his car left the gravel road, 5 miles east of Doodenanning on Plains Road, and slammed into a tree. It was assumed he fell asleep at the wheel.

Addendum to Death Certificate

Tony Bailey Dies in Car Accident

After Tony had not arrived home that night, next morning Marjorie and Rusty went looking for him and came across the wrecked car. A passing motorist had already found the car wreck and called for emergency services to attend the scene of the accident.

A funeral was held for Tony at St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral, Perth and Aquinas College boys formed an honour guard. Tony was buried alongside his grandparents in Karrakatta Cemetery, Nedlands, W.A.

Anthony (Tony) Miller Bailey’s Gravestone

Tony’s name was always a point of contention. A certified copy of his birth certificate had his name as Millar Anthony Bailey:

Birth - Millar Anthony Bailey

His death certificate had Millar Anthony Bailey:

Death Certificate – Millar Anthony Bailey

However, on his grave, his name was shown as Anthony Miller Bailey. It was thought that Tony’s grandfather (Oswald Gordon) may have been responsible for the misspelling of “Miller” and not “Millar” on his gravestone.

A few years later Marjorie and Rusty were to lose their other son John, aged seventeen years, again to a car accident.

The family were living in South Guildford at the time and John was working with a shearing team in the country. He was with another lad and were driving back in a utility (pick-up) vehicle from the farm they were working on, when it rolled on a windy country road. A witness saw it rolling down an embankment. They were found by a Catholic priest who was driving to Southern Cross, W.A. and initially the priest thought there was only one occupant of the vehicle but he found John and gave him the Last Rites. John was taken to Northam Hospital but died the following day.

John was also buried in Karrakatta Cemetery with his mother and father.

John Peter Cuming’s Gravestone

After living at South Guildford for some years, the family moved to Woodhouse Street, East Fremantle. It was there on 11th January 1973, Rusty succumbed to lung cancer and died.

Rusty Cuming, Margaret Mary and Millar Buzzard, Marjorie Cuming

Marjorie was to live for many years after Rusty’s death but moved to a smaller home at Westbury Crescent, Bicton and died on 7th May 1992 at Fremantle Hospital, W.A.