Loris held special place in hearts
LORIS KLUMPP COMMUNITY PIONEER
A FORMER nurse has been remembered as an inspirational community pioneer and a woman who was very much a part of Townsville’s rich wartime and post-war history.
Loris Klumpp, nee Brown, passed away in Brisbane recently, aged 93.
Loris’s son, Peter, said his mother devoted much of her life to the service of the Townsville community.
“Loris was one of the main instigators in establishing the Townsville Blue Nursing Service, now known as Blue Care,” Peter said.
“As well as being part of the original management committee, Loris worked tirelessly fundraising, transporting nurses to visit patients, and administering injections.
“After 33 years of dedicated service, Loris was presented with life membership.
“Concurrently, Loris served as Sister of the Order of St John, lecturing in home nursing. For this, she received a special award from the Governor of
Queensland, Sir Walter Campbell in 1986.
“At the same time, Loris also volunteered with the Australian Red Cross Blood Bank, Uniting Church Garden Settlement Old People’s Home (committee member) and Rotary Inner Wheel (president).”
Loris and her sister Averil were evacuated to Brisbane in early 1942 when Australia was threatened by the Japanese who were advancing through New Guinea.
Later that year she returned to Townsville to complete her nursing training at the Townsville General Hospital, caring for many Australian and American servicemen.
It was said that while nursing many servicemen back to health, she also broke many a heart.
She witnessed the “invasion” of American servicemen, mainly from the US Air Force, to Townsville and the vista of “Liberty” supply ships blocking the horizon.
Amphibious landing craft came ashore at Kissing Point.
She also witnessed the tragic crash of a Catalina flying boat near her family home on The Strand, next door to where the Watermark restaurant now stands.
Thirteen of the 19 people on board the Royal Australian Air Force Catalina Flying Boat A2452 lost their lives when a large wave swamped the aircraft on landing near Kissing Point and an anti-submarine depth charge exploded on September 7, 1943.
During her evacuation Loris met and later married William “Bill” Klumpp, who operated a cordial factory in Beaudesert.
He saw the potential for selling Coca-cola in the tropics and with his brother, Harry, developed a manufacturing plant in Townsville in 1955.
Opposite the showgrounds in West End, the factory’s fully mechanised bottle conveyor, bottle washer, and filling machinery were very modern and revolutionary at that time, having to be imported from overseas.
Peter said many older Townsville people would remember primary school tours through the Coke factory. In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s Coca-cola sponsored many educational, community and social events in the region.
He said an illness disabled his mother almost five years ago but that many people would remember her as a cheerful and dynamic person who was always great company.
“She set a shining example for her family and friends,” Peter said.
During her later years she was lovingly nursed and cared for by her daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Russ Morgan.
Loris is survived by daughter Diane and son Peter, son-in-law
Russ, daughter-in-law Dorothy, four grandsons, Rod, Chris, Arron and Shane, and nine great-grandchildren.