Mum ‘more like a sister’

A HEARTBROKEN daughter has remembered her mother as a “fighter” and “fantastic grandmother” after her tragic death near Hobart.

Alyson Mellor (nee Throne) died on April 30 when her car left Brinktop Rd, Penna, and hit a post.

Ms Mellor, aged in her 60s, died on impact.

Speaking from England, daughter Sara Wall said the news of her mother’s passing came out of nowhere.

“I rang Aly and someone else answered the phone. He replied ‘she’s dead’,” Mrs Wall said.

“That’s how I found out I’d lost my best friend. She had died two hours earlier.”

Mrs Wall said she referred to her mother as Aly because “she was more like a sister than a mother” and was “a bit of a hippy”.

“In fact, sometimes I was more like the mother in the relationship,” she said.

Ms Mellor was born in a country village in Lancashire, England. At the age of 6 she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and was told she was expected to live until about 22.

“She was a fighter and lived life her way,” Mrs Wall said.

“She lived life to the full. In this respect, we could all do to be a bit more Aly.”

Ms Mellor and Mrs Wall headed to Australia together for the trip of a lifetime.

“Aly emigrated to Australia the year after and lived in Queensland for many years,” Ms Wall said.

“I also emigrated on a work visa. Aly returned to England for a few years in 2005 after her divorce. During this time she luckily had lots of quality time with the grandchildren and then returned to live in Queensland.

“Then without ever visiting, in 2012 she moved to Tasmania and loved everything about it.

“The climate, culture and people. She made great friends when she joined a horticultural course, bush walking group and Carers Tasmania. In 2015 she bought her house in Sorell. She had finally settled.”

Ms Mellor returned to England yearly to see her grandchildren Louis, 15, and Kate, 13, before Covid struck.

Ms Mellor became an ambassador for diabetes Tasmania and in 2015 received a medal for surviving 50 years with type 1 diabetes. In a tragic twist, Ms Mellor had recently decided to relocate back to her motherland so she could spend more time with her family.

“She was a fantastic grandparent,” Mrs Wall said.

“My partner and I were tasked with finding a house for Aly to buy near us. We found a beautiful house and she was due to move in on 24th of this month.

“I drive past it daily and the kids and I have been waving saying hello Nanny’s house. Now I feel sick when I pass it.”

Mrs Wall said after decades of beating the odds, it was ultimately the diabetes which claimed Ms Mellor’s life.

“She became hypoglycaemic, unconscious and hit a post,” Mrs Wall said of the crash.

“Luckily she wouldn’t have felt a thing. When the police arrived the alarm on her insulin pump was going off. In the end diabetes won.”