94 Josephine Wood (Hankin) Continues Her Descent into Hell - Part 4: 13 November 2024

After Cliff had worked at Crockford and Robertson for about six months, a job became available at KF Pitts Engineering at 1140 Main Road Eltham.  It was only about 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) away from our home in Research, but Cliff didn’t have to walk or ride a bicycle or do anything to get to work.  Our neighbour Fred Garrett already worked at KF Pitts and Fred picked dad up every morning and drove him to work.  Cliff worked at KF Pitts until about two months before we left Research for good.

This is part of an article from the Newsletter of the Eltham District Historical Society dated April 2016.  It is by Ken's daughter and gives a glowing picture of him, many aspects of which accord with my memory.

During the Second World War he worked at the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation as a draftsman in the aeroplane engine division. In his youth Ken knew no fear and often raced Les Castledine, his brother-in-law and ongoing friend, to work on their motorbikes. After the War he continued his lifelong involvement in engineering when he started work with his father at the back of their house at 1144 Main Road, Eltham. Ken Pitts 1997 Ken married Lila Castledine, one of the eleven children of the Castledine family of Lower Plenty and their marriage was blessed with 5 children, Wendy, Dennis, Judy and Faye (twins) and the youngest Debbie. Wendy attended Eltham Primary School and Eltham High School. Dennis went to Eltham Primary School then to the Preston Technical Trade School. Judy and Faye attended Eltham Primary School then Eltham High School and Debbie went to Grove Street Primary School and Eltham High School. Ken continued to work with his father at the rear of his home until he and his brother Don built a factory at 1140-1142 Main Road, Eltham (K F Pitts Engineering), the building is still there today. He was an inventor, mechanic and engineer through and through and built up his own business. He designed and manufactured agricultural machinery that was distributed Australia-wide and exported to South Africa. He developed mowers and slashers for orchardists and farmers, as well as mowing and general equipment for the Shire of Eltham for many years. He was a man who never read instructions – he didn’t need to, he always got things right. Ken had a passion for motor racing and raced for 17 years, including against Peter Brock in car races at Albury, Winton, Sandown, Wangaratta and Phillip Island and also competed in hill climbs at Rob Roy, etc. He raced his Austin Healey and Mini Cooper S at these events and won many Trophies (1955-1972). Ken also had a love for nice cars, including Ford Mustangs, Ferraris and Porsches. You would always see him driving around Eltham in a nice car. Ken sold the business in 1985 but never fully retired. He would always be in his garage workshop designing and manufacturing and made a lot of display stands and wire baskets for the sock industry. Lila Passed away in 1987, Ken passed away in 1997.

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We were desperately poor when we lived at Parsons Road.  The mortgage payments soaked up more than half of Cliff’s wages.  Food was barely adequate and Josey was such a fanatical Catholic that she gave money to the local church that should have been used to feed and clothe us.  

Josey got a job cleaning Ken Pitts’ house.  

It should have been impossible for Ken Pitts to have an affair with Josey because his wife Lila and their children lived in the house and were usually there when Josey came to do cleaning.  

I have clear memories of Josey being heavily pregnant with my sister Margaret and walking down our street to do cleaning at the Pitts house.

These are two photos of Ken Pitts that I found in the Eltham Historical Society Newsletter.  The Newsletter gives no information about when they were taken.

The photo shown above is an old black and white one showing a younger Ken Pitts.  Ken is standing next to a Morris Mini Cooper car.  Mini Coopers were made from 1959 to 2000.  Ken looked like he does in the photo when we lived at Parsons Road. 

 

This photo shows an older version of Ken Pitts.  I presume it was taken within five years of Ken's death.

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I always assumed that when our family fled from Parsons Road in 1962, it was because Cliff had discovered that his employer Ken Pitts was the biological father of his son James David Hankin.

I think Cliff never did know that Ken Pitts was not simply the biological father of my brother James Hankin.  

I think Cliff never did know that Ken Pitts was also the father of my sister Margaret Hankin.  

If Cliff had known before he died that Ken was also the biological father of his daughter Margaret, this would have smashed his already broken heart into even tinier, minute slivers.

Cliff had already decided that he no longer wanted to live when he contracted mesothelioma (asbestosis in his lungs).  He died rapidly after the formal diagnosis. 

He had been betrayed multiple times by the only woman he had ever loved.

When Cliff Died in 1984, his beloved Josephine Wood functioned only in slow motion and she inhabited a different world from that which most people live.  Mental illness, electric shock treatment (Electro Convulsive Therapy) and injections of strong anti psychotic drugs kept her body alive, but she had no idea where she was or what she was doing.

By 1984, Josephine Wood lived in Hell – a Hell that she herself had played a major role in creating.  

Josey lived another 27 years in the Hell of her own making.