Generations of Love

By Brian Allen (’13-’14)

Having grown up in Orange, NSW, Kaitlyn Chapman-Mortimer was excited to embrace the life of a university student and all that Melbourne had to offer.

Before leaving for Melbourne, Kaitlyn’s mum, Heather, teased her about finding her husband at “the Res”. Kaitlyn told her mum she was going to uni to get a degree, not a husband.

Earlier this year, when Kaitlyn got engaged to film and television student Brendan Cherry (KSR 2014-15), she knew her mum was going to have a few words to say. The reason for Heather’s teasing was not without some family context. She herself met her husband, Tim, at “the Hostel”, as it was known then, in 1984.

While Kaitlyn’s story might be a family case of history repeating itself, it’s far from the first time that someone has found their future spouse while living at the Res. There’s a long list of marriages and long-term relationships that have emerged from the Kew Student Residence/Hostel community.
Tim and Heather Chapman-Mortimer can be spotted in the photo of residents from 1984. The photo hangs on the wall by the pool table at the res today. The snap was taken just after they’d finished the production of The Magic Pudding. They rewrote The Magic Pudding to make it a play. Heather said that a production or revue used to be a tradition of the Res. Meanwhile, Tim remembers a time when he and a team of mates pulled an engine apart and fixed a broken down car.

“Because none of us could afford to pay for a mechanic to go and fix it so we all dived under the bonnet of this car, got ourselves nice and greasy and dirty, pulled the engine apart, put it all back together again and got a car fixed,” Tim said.

Tim and Heather became friends at the Res in 1984. Among others they’d play card games like 500 late into the night. In September 1984, Tim asked Heather if she’d come for a walk.

“I suppose that friendship just developed to a point that one night in September I said we should go for a walk and we’ll have a talk and Heather said what about. And that was the beginning of a 30-year relationship,” Tim said.

They were married in the Kew Baptist Church in 1986. One year after Tim had left the Res and two years after Heather had stopped living there. Today, they live in Orange in the central west of NSW. They moved there when expecting their first child. Heather is doing tax consultancy and is busy with tax season. The boys who dived under the bonnet of the car
with Tim about 30 years ago, might be interested to know that these experiences, along with the university degree he gained while living at the Hostel, see him working as an engineer.

At the beginning of last year, second year student Brendan Cherry helped Tim and Heather’s daughter Kaitlyn bring her shoes into the Res for the first time. By O-week Brendan, a keen photographer, was showing Kaitlyn some of his photos.

“There was an O-week activity that we both kind of boycotted ‘cause we didn’t want to go. So we just ended up hanging out together at Res just in the lounge room or whatever instead of going to that. And then obviously Brendan’s a photographer so he’s like ‘oh I’ll show you my cool pictures I took recently’ ‘cause he’d been talking about them. So I was like ‘ok’,” Kaitlyn said.

Within a month of meeting each other they were dating and within a year they were engaged. Brendan and Kaitlyn both acknowledge things have moved fast and they said living at the Res together accelerated their relationship.

“Talking to other couples that didn’t live in a student residence together, conversations they had after 18 months we were having in three months or something like that which was ‘cause we saw each other every day or most days,” Brendan said.

Tim and Heather also said the Res encourages strong relationships.

“The Res, while it’s not a place that you go to meet your future spouse, it’s conducive to that sort of atmosphere. You can get to see people warts and all,” Heather said.

“The community that’s created here is a community that encourages relationships, solid relationships. And sometimes they develop into that one step further,” Tim said.

It’s an exciting time for Tim and Heather as Kaitlyn is the first of their five children to get married. Heather noted that she has made five trips to Melbourne from Orange so far this year and knows there are more to come. Tim said he thinks Kaitlyn is handling the lead up to the wedding in November well.

“It’s good to watch the way she’s lifting to the occasion and getting things organised.” Tim said.

“I think to see the maturity that they’ve both got is quite exciting.”

So while Heather might have been making an innocent joke about Kaitlyn’s marital prospects on arriving at the Res, it seems Kaitlyn will be leaving with both a degree and a husband after all.

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