Some people wear their hearts on their sleeve. Award-winning artist Wilma Plozza-Green wears it on her walls. You only have to walk through her cosy Footscray home to see what’s important to her.
The long passage way and her living area resemble an art gallery with rows and rows of artwork she has painted over the years. There are also portraits and photos of family members.
Her latest painting of the oldest of her four daughters, former Labor MP Danielle Green, is half completed.
Her walls also reflect her other passion – her Catholic faith. There are three crucifixes on the wall above the television set.
“I love my home,” Wilma says simply. “It’s wonderful to be surrounded by things that are important to me.”
And things that could easily gather dust! But luckily Wilma is on a level two homecare package through Uniting AgeWell which means she gets domestic assistance to keep her home as bright and shiny as she likes it, and gets help with her garden.
“The cleaner is just lovely, we chat and laugh a lot,” Wilma says.
In the meantime the 82-year-old is absolutely loving life and being able to get out and about after the long lockdowns during COVID. She still drives and goes to art lessons, to the gym, out walking with her friends, watching her beloved Essendon play and catching up with her daughters and grandchildren.
Wilma has diabetes and a heart condition, but after having beaten breast cancer twice, is pretty determined to exercise and be as healthy as possible.
She regularly works out in her lounge with equipment designed to build up her strength and over the past year has managed to lose 22kg through a soup-and exercise diet.
Pretty inspirational! But then so is her life, from being a self-confessed rat-bag at school to a multi-award winning artist who has held a number of high-profile art exhibitions, including one at the Bundoora Homestead Gallery.
The early years
Wilma grew up in country Victoria as one of four girls. She was 17 when she left school and describes herself as a bit of a “rat bag” student.
“I hid in the cupboard to avoid going to class, and I used to nick raisons from the pantry cupboard in the canteen,” she explains.
She left school, started work as a receptionist and then met and married accountant, Walter. They lived in Mildura and went on to have four daughters.
Wilma completed her VCE and at the age of 49 enrolled at RMIT to study to become a youth worker. She started working with young people in residential care – a career that she loved.
Walter died when she was 50 years old, and she devoted her time to bringing up her daughters. Many years later she met Ron, an electrician, who died of asbestosis after they had been married for only four years.
A busy life
Wilma worked fulltime at the Olivia Newton John Centre in fundraising until she retired at the age of 77. It was a role she loved, and she saw no reason to give it up in her mid-60’s when so many people retire.
She has also been singing in the choir at the University of the Third Age for the last 25 years. And of course she’s interested in politics.
She’s proud of always being there for her daughters, and for the accomplishments they’ve achieved. One daughter is a university lecturer who speaks six languages, another writes for a council and the youngest has a science degree.
And she’s proud of always sticking to her motto “to be kind.”
“It’s a good life,” she says.
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