Violet was born November 1918 in Waimate, two years after sister Dorothy. She was only two when the family shifted to Bluff where she was to stay throughout her childhood. After leaving school she worked as a housemaid for a well-to-do family, which was about the only work a young woman could get back then. Her nickname was always Bunty although a certain niece from Waihi left her seriously doubting her own identity by suggesting that some words have a silent letter in front of them, such as “knot”, and maybe Bunty could be a Kbunty without her even being aware of it. This left her in hysterics for days to come.

She must have been only sixteen or seventeen when she met a young Post Office worker who was to become her future husband. Eric William MacIntosh was born in August 1908 in the little country town of Lumsden. After the family shifted to the family farm at Waimahaka, he joined the Post Office as an Exchange Clerk and Messenger before transferring to Bluff in 1931. It must have been shortly after this that a friendship between the two grew into a full courtship. The early stages were not without a certain amount of secrecy. Apparently, a certain older brother's silence had to be bought at considerable expense. They must have decided that they were right for each other for when Eric was posted to Pukerau in 1935 for a year, and then to Invercargill, they were married in August 1936. Older sister Dorothy was Violet's bridesmaid. They moved into a brand new house in Margaret Street where they remained for the rest of their lives. Their house was one of the first to be built in their street.

Sons Eric Robert and Colin Frank came along in 1937 and 1938, with daughters Maureen Grace and Nola Jean in 1940 and 1942 before husband Eric saw service in the armed services during 1943-44. Son Evan Brian was born in 1945 followed by a promotion to the First Division of the Post Office which required a transfer to Wellington. Two years later, it was back to Invercargill where son Donald John was born in 1950.

It must have been only a few years after this that Violet started her long service with night nursing at Lorneville Hospital for the Elderly. It was a job which suited her caring nature. How else could she have put up with starting work at 10.00pm each night for as long as she did? The rest of the family got used to being very quiet each morning when she was asleep. Quite often she would bicycle the 10kms there and back. This on top of lifting elderly patients with her bad back.

While bringing up six children shortly after the depression and then through the war years must have been a challenge, she took great interest in all family affairs. The Surrey Park School League of Mothers Committee benefitted from her valuable input for many years and helping out at the annual “bring and buy” involved making and selling huge amounts of sweets and cakes.

There were frequent visits to relatives from the Baileys on Stewart Island to sister Dolly living in Christchurch travelling on the old steam Express Train, arriving covered in smoke soot. Visits to the MacIntosh farm at Waimahaka involved long trips over bumpy gravel roads which seem effortless nowadays with tar-seal basically all the way. Even a trip to Clifton (just out of Invercargill) to visit Sarah, Bob and Wattie MacIntosh by bicycle was a major undertaking, but Violet took great pleasure in keeping up with everyone she knew. Eric and Colin on bikes of their own with Maureen on dad's bike and Nola behind her mum. Whatever was happening Violet usually took an active part be it swimming in lake or river or taking the deep end of the flounder net at Slope Point. Going for walks was a favourite activity but was severely limited by a heart condition which was with her from birth and was the cause of her death at a relatively young age of 54. With today's technology they may have been able to insert some stents and prolong her life for many years.

Violet and Eric were a team from beginning to end, with Violet providing a happy caring environment for her family and Eric happily supporting her in every way. Their attitude to life was to make the best of what you have. If something was beyond their ability to finance immediately, then they would often say, “Wait until our rich uncle in Fiji dies, then we will be able to afford it”. Nola remembers it took some time to realize that there was no “rich uncle in Fiji”.

With their passing came a realization of the great legacy they left for us. A respect for others was central to their way of life. Eric would often say, “If you can't say something nice about someone – don't say anything”. And a positive outlook can make an ordinary life into something special.