Family History at Laidley Aged Care Community Continues

Shirley Mutzelburg knows Carinity Karinya Place like the back of her hand. Not only does she live in the Laidley aged care community, she used to work there – and also got married on the site!

Shirley’s history at the seniors home goes back many decades. Her parents, Ted and Pearl Manttan, were Karinya Place residents who lived in the Herb Mutzelburg Wing in which Shirley now resides.

Shirley worked on Herb’s farm in the 1960s, picking beetroots, onions and potatoes to earn income to help raise her young family. She later worked at Karinya Place, supporting local seniors in her roles as a nurse and later a diversional therapist.

“Shirley was known for her outgoing personality and sense of humour,” her son Darryl Mutzelburg said.

“She has always been good at knitting, crocheting and tapestries. She took on organising roles for the annual Karinya fundraising fete for many years where large volumes of her craft handiwork would be donated and sold.”

In 1994, Shirley married her second husband, Donnie Mutzelburg, with the ceremony and reception held on-site at Karinya Place.

Janice Spreadborough, a support services team member who works in the Karinya Place laundry, recalls working alongside Shirley in the 1990s.

“We had a lot of fun, but Shirley was a very straight-laced lady – and the work had to be done. All of the residents’ beds had to be schmick, made just perfectly,” Janice said.

“When Shirley moved here and first saw me she grabbed me, gave me a big hug and said, ‘I remember you’.”

Other members of Shirley’s family to have worked at Karinya Place include her daughter Karen, son Bradley, daughter-in-law Nerida, and her brother Kelly.

Shirley was also involved in church endeavours around town.

“Following the loss of her first husband to cancer in 1986, Shirley became very active in the Baptist Church becoming a Deacon and undertaking charity work visiting inmates at Boggo Road jail,” Daryl said.

Shirley is one of numerous current Karinya Place residents who have a close family connection to the seniors home. They include a relative of Olive Paroz, Matron of Karinya Place from 1971 to 1978 after whom a wing at the aged care community is named.

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