Loving mum’s life of work
IRIS THOMSEN
A PART of Townsville history is gone with the passing of a hardworking woman who played a key role, albeit behind the scenes, in one of the city’s longest running businesses.
Iris Thomsen, wife to the late Keith “KT” Thomsen of Keith Thomsen Furniture fame, was also a great cook and seamstress and a loving mother.
“She did everything for us,” daughter Rhonda Thomsen said.
Iris Thomsen was born in Cooroy on the Sunshine Coast on October 5, 1922.
She was the daughter of dairy farmers Karl and Florence Landroth. She was educated by correspondence on the family farm just outside of Pomona.
When World War II was declared she enlisted in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force, attending the William Angliss cooking school in Melbourne.
“She used to do the cooking for the officers. They were told (by the kitchen staff) to put extra salt on the savouries so the officers would drink more beer,” Rhonda said.
After her training she had been posted to Maryborough in Queensland but in one of those mistakes of defence organisation young Iris ended up in Townsville.
It must have been fated because she met the love of her life at the Roof Garden cafe and ballroom.
Returning to Pomona, romance blossomed with young Townsville carpenter Keith Thomsen via love letters penned over the following 12 months.
Rhonda said her mother used to say the American servicemen attending the Roof Garden ballroom often gave different stories when asking for a dance.
“She used to judge them by how truthful and consistent they were. Dad must have lined up with the same story all the time,” Rhonda said.
Iris and Keith were married in
1947 and were given a property near the mouth of Ross River by Keith’s grandparents as a wedding present.
For the next 58 years this would be the site of a new and second-hand furniture store, Keith Thomsen Furniture, as well as the family home across the road in Eighth Ave.
Keith Thomsen became a household name, partly through his witty television advertisements, such as throwing a cattle dog across a room and holding up a brochure, saying: that’s not a catalogue, this is a catalogue.
Iris worked behind the scenes in the business, often attending the Rex Prior auctions on Saturdays to bid for items acquired for the store.
She would also drive the business’s Dodge Desoto truck.
But it was her cooking and sewing for which Iris excelled, particularly with her scones and jams. She used to cream the butter and sugar.
She made clothing for her family, regularly sewing dresses for her daughters and shirts for Keith.
In the early days they had no washing machine so she would have to boil the clothing in a copper and pass them through a hand ringer before hanging them on the clothes line.
Rhonda said their mother
“worked really hard” making special dinners and looking after them when they were ill and doing the household chores if it meant giving them time to do their homework.
After selling the South Townsville property in 2005, Iris lived in Kirwan until 2018, when she moved to the Parklands residential aged care facility.
She passed away on March 5, aged 97.