Maryborough mourns loss of hockey legend Cecilia Hynes

Tributes have flowed for Fraser Coast legend and former Sportsperson of the Year, Cecilia Hynes, the survivor of two pandemics, who has died at the age of 106.

Cecilia Hynes of Maryborough, at 102 years of age, holding a photograph of herself when she was aged 18 years.

An icon of Maryborough hockey is being remembered as a woman who made a huge contribution to her community.

The Fraser Coast’s oldest citizen, Cecilia Hynes, 106, died peacefully on December 12.

The mother of eight lived in the same home in Tinana for more than 60 years and raised her family there alongside her husband, Tom, before becoming a resident of Baycrest in Hervey Bay in her final years.

On Thursday, Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour paid tribute to the beloved community member, who was named Fraser Coast Sportsperson of the Year in 2018.

“She was a really remarkable woman who contributed greatly to our community for decades, particularly through hockey,” Mr Seymour said.

“(She was) always friendly and supportive of others.”

Fraser Coast resident Cecilia Hynes celebrates her 105th birthday alongside her family.

Cecilia Hynes - Fraser Coast Sportsperson of the Year.

After turning 100, and having a tree planted in her honour, Mrs Hynes had many opportunities to look back on her long life.

She said it was the precious memories that meant the most to her.

Memories like meeting Tom for the first time when he asked her to go to a dance.

When Mrs Hynes would play the piano, he wooed her by turning her sheet music for her.

The two were married in Ayr when she was 24.

They welcomed eight children, but Mrs Hynes’ life was almost cut short during the Second World War when she had an ectopic pregnancy.

“I almost died, I was a fortnight unconscious,” she said.

Nurses were few and far between, but Tom sat with her every day as she clung to life.

Cecilia Hynes -Former Fraser Coast Sportsperson of the Year. Holding a photo of the Ayr Anchors hockey team from 1939 - (she is front 2nd left).

During her third pregnancy she had to have an ovary removed and she was told she might struggle to have more children.

But five more followed.

Mrs Hynes became heavily involved in hockey and was a founding member of the Tinana Hockey Club.

Decades before she helped start and develop the club, which will celebrate 50 years next month, she was a young rookie in North Queensland.

Her hockey journey started as a 16-year-old in Mt Isa, before a move to Ayr courtesy of her father’s employment in the rail industry saw her start her first team.

Her involvement with Maryborough District Hockey Association began with a knock on her door.

“Fifty years ago, a gentleman came to the door and said ‘I believe you have a lot of daughters, I want to start a hockey team’,” Celie recalled.

Cecilia Hynes celebrating her 100th birthday on October 10, 2017. Pictured at a tree planting ceremony at the Elizabeth Park Rose Garden in Maryborough with great granddaughter Rose Thomas. Rose shares the same birthday as her great grandmother and was born on the tenth of the tenth of the tenth.

“That chap bowed out that year and I took over.

“I worked hard. I used to go around from house-to-house to get players.”

About 30 years ago, when Tom was dying, she would sit with him every day, just as he did for her when she fought her health battle and she was told he could still hear her, so she spoke to him constantly.

The day he died, he sat up in bed and told his beloved wife “I love you too”.

“That proved he heard me,” Mrs Hynes said.

“I often think of it.”

After surviving bowel cancer at the age of 94, Mrs Hynes remained in the house Tom built for many more years before becoming a resident at Baycrest.

Speaking to the Fraser Coast Chronicle at the start of the pandemic in 2020, she had some words of wisdom to share.

She was just one year old when the Spanish flu came to Australia’s shores in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War.

At the age of 102, she again found herself in the midst of a global pandemic when Covid began to spread and she urged people to remain calm.

Commenting on her long life, she simply said: “I’m really, really blessed”.

Originally published as Maryborough mourns loss of hockey legend Cecilia Hynes