By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
EIGHTEEN years ago Carol Friday guessed Leanne Smith’s newborn son would grow to be six foot four.
With the now 18-year-old Jake clocking in at six foot five, Carol wasn’t far off.
As a maternal health nurse for the City of Casey, patrolling Berwick’s relatively new Timbarra Estate in a caravan during the late ’90s, the new mothers on the block came to rely on Carol’s parenting advice and continually trusted her instincts.
“Babies don’t come with a rule book and we were all brand-new mums back then, even second or third time mums were seeing her too,” Leanne, now living in Clyde, said.
“When you’re a brand-new mum, you’re not sure if anything you’re doing is right but Carol was always available, she always cared.
“The world has lost a really nice lady, who touched many, many lives.
“All of our thoughts go out to her family.”
Last month Carol, 68, and her 29-year-old son Greig, perished when Germanwings flight 9525 travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf went down in the French Alps.
There were no survivors among the 150 passengers and crew.
It’s believed German co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 28, was left in sole control of the plane after the captain left the cockpit, refusing to re-open the door and allegedly initiating the plane’s descent.
Carol, a talented artist, and her son, a mechanical engineer, had been enjoying a few weeks’ holiday together before Greig began work in Europe.
“I was absolutely horrified,” Leanne said, following the tragedy.
“When it’s someone you know, you tend to put yourself in their situation, trying to think what she and her son went through in those last few moments.
“It’s just horrific. Because it’s someone I did know, it makes it all the more real.
“She was just a lovely lady. There will be so many mums in the Casey area that knew her; she affected a lot of people’s lives in an extremely good way.”
A minute’s silence was held for Carol and Greig last Tuesday night at the City of Casey’s fortnightly council meeting.
Mayor Mick Morland said the council’s thoughts were with the Friday family.
Upon hearing of the tragedy, Leanne dug out her son’s yellow “baby book”, a record of Jake’s weight and height written down just after he was born.
Carol Friday’s name is inscribed inside the cover.
