Bethany, one of Eileen's two daughters, writes (10 October, 2005):
On September 2, a rather surprised Eileen Sholl (Davies) celebrated her 60th birthday with friends and family at a gathering in Canberra, Australia. Eileen came to Australia in the 1970s and lived in Canberra for a number of years before moving to Darwin in 1988, then Hobart ten years later. She is currently living in the tiny, obscure town of Beulah in the wheat-farming region of Australia with her husband Walter Sholl. They were called there as part of Walter's ministry with the Uniting Church. This is Eileen's first real encounter with country living and she is really enjoying it, although she does feel the need to escape to the big city occasionally to spend time with her daughters.
Eileen's daughters, Amy and Bethany, had spent months plotting the perfect surprise party. Eileen was lured to Melbourne on the pretence that she was being taken to the theatre for her birthday and was put on a plane for Canberra instead. Eileen was so cooperatively unsuspicious that Amy and Bethany managed to organize everything right under her nose and it wasn't until we walked in the door at the party that she realized what was happening.
It was a lovely night and Eileen said it was the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for her. But there weren't nearly as many tears as expected!
With her email, Bethany sends along two more photographs of their surreptitious triumph!
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Mother and daughters!
