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= Vernon Rima Howorth Hillman/Spence (nee Swain) OAM =

Vernon Hillman OAM (1922 - 2016) was a medical social worksr honored in 1989 by the Order of Australia Medal for her services to the Italian immigrant community in Australia at the Comitato Assistenza Italiani (Co.As.It) organization and its Women's Refuge. She is remembered by the multitude of women in trouble she helped, through her empathy, humour and practical advice, during an adventurous life of military postings and social work in Japan, the UK, Australia and Asia. She was the wife of three men of valour and distinction: a famous World War II fighter pilot, an air vice- marshal and a Rhodes Scholar. Vernon’s first husband, Lou Spence (DFC and bar, US Legion of Merit), who she married in 1941, was killed in action in Korea as commanding officer of 77 Squadron RAAF in September 1950. Lou had flown with 3 Squadron RAAF during the Battle of Tobruk with Bobby Gibbs, Dick Creswell, and others in 1942 and later led 452 squadron in Spitfires against the Japanese from Darwin. With her second husband, Air Vice Marshal Frank Headlam (CB, CBE, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff), commander of 2 squadron RAAF in WW2, she worked in Singapore and London from 1968. Later they purchased and ran a cattle farm at Orbost near the mouth of the Snowy River. Following his death in 1976, she married Geoff Hillman, a Rhodes Scholar who had fought at the Battle of Kohima in 1944. Vernon was born in Manjimup, Western Australia on April 22, 1922 to T'Rima Eugenie Swain (nee Young, pianist) and John Edgar Hill Swain, a Bank Manager who had fought at Gallipoli in WW!, and later flew with 70 Squadron RFC. Vernon's life as a medical social worker led her to professional positions at drug clinics and hospitals in London and Australia, notably the Heart Foundation in Melbourne and St. Vincent's Hospital in Sydney. She had two children. Penelope Rima Spence became a Sydney television personality and film producer, winner of two Logie awards and the European Prix Jeunesse for children’s television. In 1968, she was the first female newsreader in Australia. John Charles Howorth Spence is a physicist, a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Royal Society. Vernon's obituary was published by the Age newspaper in Melbourne on November 14, 2016.