The news seemed so unbelievable that Police Association assistant
secretary, Tom Scheffler, wondered whether he had heard the caller
correctly. But his ears had not deceived him on that Friday evening
in August 2002.
Retired solicitor, Pam Cleland, had just told him one of her former
clients, an elderly German migrant woman, had bequeathed her Prospect
home to the Police Association.
“I was absolutely blown out of the water,” said Mr Scheffler. “I
had to ask Mrs Cleland to repeat it a couple of times; and I thought:
‘Are you sure you know what you’re saying?’
“I didn’t think it was a hoax, because Mrs Cleland spoke so well
on the phone - like a professional person. But I was quite flabbergasted.”
It emerged that 93-year-old
Magdelene Standke, then living in a Parkside nursing home, had nominated
the Police Association as her beneficiary in March 1980. A widow with
no children, she had never made contact with the association which,
in turn, knew nothing of her.
She had, however, had a strong connection to policing in her late
husband, Heinrich, a former German police sergeant who died in March
1975.
Now, still of sound mind, Mrs Standke wanted no amendments to the
details of her bequest to the Police Association.
“It was extraordinary that the lady would feel so good about police
in this state that she wanted to bequeath her house,” said association
president, Peter Alexander.
“She wanted to leave it to the Police Association in the interests
of police officers generally. And it was obviously out of great respect
for her late husband, too.”
Mrs Standke had expected to return to her Prospect house, after only
eight weeks in the nursing home. But she had to undergo a blood transfusion
in hospital on the weekend after Mrs Cleland called the association.
She also suffered from arthritis, and so remained in care.
Sadly, Mrs Standke died the following year on March 23. She had neither
visited the Police Association nor met any of its officials. Mr Alexander
said the association had chosen not to intrude on her privacy.
“We were aware that she was in a home, and it was our understanding
that she didn’t want us to make contact with her,” he explained.
Mr Scheffler - of German heritage himself - and his fellow assistant
secretary, Mark Carroll, attended Mrs Standke’s funeral at Enfield
Memorial Park on March 31.
Over the ensuing months, the Police Association committee would
hold formal discussions about the future of the then former Standke
property in Pulsford Rd.
Owing to the condition of the house, and its projected maintenance
costs, the committee ruled against adding it to the association’s
holiday home portfolio. Selling the property emerged as the favoured
option.
On November 15 last year, it sold by auction for $221,500. “We’re
yet to identify how we will use that money,” said Mr Alexander.
“Obviously, the sale price was just fantastic; and we hope to acknowledge
Mrs Standke in our minutes, and in our history, in a way that shows
our appreciation.”
Magdelene Charlotte Alma Olga Standke (née Dreier) 1909 - 2003
The eldest of four children, Magdelene Standke was born in Gross
Wockern, Germany, on April 14, 1909. The first of a number of moves
her family made was to Sternberg, during her early childhood.
Of her youth, Mrs Standke had said: “(I) learnt housework and gardening
in Beuthof. At age 22, I came into a household in Berlin that I had
to manage.
“After four years of work, I stopped working there because I got
married. During my marriage, I learnt nursing through the Red Cross.”
Mrs Standke married her police officer husband, Heinrich, in Berlin
on June 18, 1936. In March 1956, they sailed to Australia on the Arosa
Star. After they arrived, they bought the Prospect home which Mrs
Standke would bequeath to the Police Association of SA 24 years later.
She was particularly passionate about cooking and gardening, loved
animals, and maintained an involvement with a Lutheran migrant church
in Adelaide.
Mrs Standke’s husband - with whom she had no children - died on March
31, 1975. During their years in Australia, he had worked for Volkswagen.
In later years, Mrs Standke’s arthritis became severe and necessitated
her move to a nursing home, where she died peacefully on March 23.
Police Association assistant secretary, Tom Scheffler, himself of
German extraction, felt great empathy for her. “I am very familiar
with the culture and customs of the people who emigrated out of Germany,”
he said. “My family came from the same sort of background.
“I know the struggles they had with the culture and language when
they came to Australia.
“And, Germans, and Europeans generally, have strong family ties,
so I found it sad that the Standkes had no children.”
House left to