Thomas

Thomas (Tom) Behrens

(25 September 1888 - 5 November 1970)

Thomas Behrens (known as Tom) was born at the family home, 800 Elgar Road, Doncaster, Melbourne, Victoria, on 25 September 1888. He was the fifth son of German-born Frederick William Ellis Behrens (22 June 1841 - 12 June 1907) and his Australian-born wife, Alice Martha Powrie (5 Nov 1857 - 8 Nov 1933):

• Frederick (Fred) William Behrens (29 Oct 1882 - 5 Nov 1966)
• Ellis Behrens (16 Apr 1884 - 28 Apr 1965)
• Kenward (Ken) Behrens (16 Mar 1886 - 20 July 1934)
• Otto Behrens (29 Apr 1887 - 11 Nov 1963)
• Thomas (Tom) Behrens (25 Sept 1888 - 5 Nov 1970)
• Edmund (Ed) Behrens (20 June 1890 - 20 June 1933)
• Minna Behrens (3 Oct 1893 - 7 July 1973)
• Ruth Behrens (8 July 1895 - 19 Oct 1977)
• Nettie Behrens (8 Nov 1896 - 7 Oct 1937)

When Tom was born he had four older brothers. When he was almost two years old, his younger brother Ed was born. A sister, Minna, was born on 3 October 1893 when Tom was 5 years old.

The Behrens family attended the first Seventh-day Adventist Camp meeting in Australia in 1893 which was held in the coastal suburb of Brighton  from 29 December 1893 until 15 January 1894. At this camp meeting, the American Adventist pioneer, Ellen G. White, preached powerfully.

An early Seventh-day Adventist camp at Brighton, Melbourne.
Photographer and date unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Tom and his siblings did their schooling at the Doncaster State School No. 197 which was constructed c1886 at 679 Doncaster Road to replace a previous timber structure.

Doncaster Primary School pre 1900
Some of the Behrens children may be pictured.
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Tom's two youngest sisters, Ruth Behrens and Nettie Behrens were born on 8 July 1895 and 8 November 1896 respectively. Around this time, their father began to suffer from respiratory complications. Some relatives believe he also suffered from asthma. Respiratory ailments would affect William for the rest of his life.

Behrens brothers: Tom (front), Ed & Otto (back)
Photographer & date unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Behrens family in early 1907 just before William passed away.

Back from left: Tom, Ken, Otto, Edmund

Middle from left: William and Alice

Front, from left: Ruth, Nettie, Minna

Absent: Fred & Ellis

(Photo courtesy of K J Bland)

Tom's father, William (65), died on the morning of 12 June 1908. When he was buried at the Box Hill Cemetery, Tom and his five brothers carried their father's coffin from the horse-drawn hearse to his graves.

Behrens boys scooping a dam on the family farm, early 1900s
From left: (possibly) Tom, Ed, Ken, Otto
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

The Behrens brothers and some of their friends were keen on science. A group of them formed the Auburn Science Club and together they shared their knowledge and fascination with things scientific.

Audurn Science Club, 26 Dec 1908
Back L-R Otto & Tom Behrens,
Front L-R  Charlie Litster, Ken & Edmund Behrens.
Photo taken at The Ana Studios Burwood Rd Auburn, Victoria.
(Photo courtesy of K J Bland)

The Behrens family c1909
Back, left to right: Edmund, Otto, Fred, Alice, Kenward, Ellis, Tom,
Girls at the front, left to right: Nettie, Minna, Ruth
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

On 19 October 1914, Tom was an attendant at the wedding of his sister Minna to Charles (Charlie) Stafford (20 Mar 1900 - 4 Aug 1946). The wedding was held in Doncaster.

Wedding of Charles Stafford and Minna Behrens. 19 October 1914.
From left: Nettie Behrens, Tom Behrens, Charles Stafford, Minna Behrens,
 Ken Behrens, Ruth Behrens, & Fred Behren
Photo by The Burlington Studios, 294 Bourke St, Melbourne.
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Tom's brother, Fred married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Green on 16 April 1912, at the original Seventh-day Adventist Church, Warburton. 

Tom's brother Ken married Isabella (Belle) Mary Simpson (6 August 1885 - 13 October 1963) in 1915.

Behrens family picnic c1918
From left: Lorrie & Tom, Ruth with Leo Stafford (boy), Alice, Nettie,
unknown woman & man, Belle & Ken (standing), four other unknown people
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Tom worked in the bindery department of the Signs Publishing Company, just as his mother had done in her younger days.

Tom married Lorrie Rhoda Paine (23 Oct 1887 - 5 Dec 1969) on 25 March 1918 in Auburn, Victoria.

Lorrie and Tom on their wedding day 25 March 1918
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Following their wedding, Tom and Lorrie lived on Yuonga Road, Warburton in the little house shown below:

Tom and Lorrie outside their first home on Yuonga Road, Warburton. c1918
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Tom and Lorrie had one daughter:

• Mavis Naomi Behrens (6 Jan 1922 - 9 Dec 1991). 

Mavis was born at Leeton, New South Wales, on 6 January 1922. 

In 1927, Ken's brother, Otto, married Mabel Alma Thompson (1903 - 1959). The wedding was held in Albury, NSW. 

Thomas, Lorrie and young Mavis moved to the Shepparton district in the late 1920s where he worked as an upholsterer.

On 1 October 1930, Ken may have attended his sister Ruth's wedding to Edmund Martin (dates unknown) which was held at the Mont Albert Seventh-day Adventist Church, Melbourne. 

The early 1930s saw Tom saying goodbye to several family members. The first to pass away was his brother Ed who died unexpectedly on 21 May 1933, aged 42, after an unfortunate accident in which a horse kicked him in the head. The family buried Ed at the Box Hill Cemetery. Six months later, his mother, Alice, died on 8 November 1933 in Doncaster, Victoria, and was buried in the same grave as her husband, in Box Hill Cemetery, Baptist Section, Plot B-40. The following year, Tom's brother, Ken died on 20 July 1934 from consumption (tuberculosis), aged 48. He too was buried at Box Hill Cemetery.

Tom and Lorrie Behrens with their daughter, Mavis c1940s
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

Back from left: Minna Stafford and her son Calvin, Tom & Lorrie Behrens
Front from left: Esther and Jim Hillhouse (Minna & Tom's maternal aunt) c1941
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

A story in the Australasian Record 8 December, 1958, Vol 62, No 49, page 2, describes Tom as a leading figure in the local Adventist church, and talks about him working as a carpet layer in Shepparton, Victoria. One day he went to lay carpet for a family who were very impressed by his sincerity and invited him to join them for lunch. Tom told them that he had his own lunch. The family noticed he had no meat in his meal so Tom explained that he chose to be a vegetarian for health reasons. He also explained that he was a Seventh-day Adventist and invited the family to an evangelistic series at his church. They accepted the invitation and eventually became Adventists too.

Tom and Lorrie celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1969.

Lorrie died in Shepparton on 5 December 1969. Her obituary appeared in the Australasian Record, Vol 74, No 4, on 26 January, 1970, page 14:

          BEHRENS. Lorrie Rhoda Behrens (nee
Paine) was born in Geelong, Victoria, on Octo-
ber 23, 1887, and died in Shepparton on Decem-
ber 5, 1969. While in her teens, she attended
religious meetings conducted in the Melbourne
suburb of Ascot Vale by Pastors Corliss, Israel
and Michaels, and was later baptized and be-
came a charter member of the Moonee Ponds
church. She was among the first to join the
staff of the Sanitarium Health Food cafe in
Melbourne, serving first as a waitress and then
as matron. She also served as matron in our
cafes in Auckland and Wellington. In 1918 she
was married to Thomas Behrens, and after some
years finally settled in Shepparton where she
has lived with her husband and her daughter.
Mavis, for the last forty years. To her devoted
husband and her daughter we tender our sin-
cere sympathy, and with them anticipate with
joy the coming of our Lord to unite us to loved
ones nevermore to part. At the services in
the Shepparton church, and at the graveside, the
writer was ably assisted by Pastors Len Hay
and Maurice Bland.            C. F. Hollingsworth.


Tom died at his home in Shepparton, Victoria, on 5 November 1970, aged 82. His death notice was printed in the Australasian Record, Vol 75, No 1, on 4 January 1971, page 14:

       BEHRENS. On November 5, 1970, Brother
Thomas Behrens in his eighty-second year
passed away at home. He belonged to a pio-
neering family within the Adventist Church and
was one of the early members of the North
Fitzroy church. He also attended the first
camp-meeting in Australia. He was the much
loved husband of Lowry Paine, with whom he
shared a happy marriage of nearly fifty-one
years. One daughter, Mavis, lovingly cared for
her parents in their later years. Thomas worked
for the Signs Publishing Company prior to mov-
ing to the Shepparton district. His heart was
set on "the tabernacles of the Lord of hosts."
He longed and waited for them. He went to
sleep with the sure and blessed hope of that
great resurrection day. Our hearts go out to
his two sisters, Mrs. Stafford and Mrs. Martin
and his only daughter, Mavis. Pastor Hay and
Brother Barrett assisted the writer. May the
Lord of all comfort and the Father of mercies,
sustain those he left, during this time of sor-
row.                                               H. E. Vysma.



The family of Tom and Lorrie

Tom and Lorrie had one daughter:

• Mavis Naomi Behrens (6 Jan 1922 - 9 Dec 1991). 
• Mavis was born in Leeton, New South Wales. 

Mavis Behrens c1923
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

• Mavis attended Avondale College, Cooranbong between 1939 and 1941, graduating from the business course.

Mavis Behrens (possibly during her college days) c1940
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

• She worked for the Sanitarium Health Food Company in both Brisbane, Queensland, and at Windsor, Victoria, and later worked as a secretary for the South New South Wales Seventh-day Adventist Conference Office at Wagga, and the Victoria Seventh-day Adventist Conference Office, Hawthorn. 
• Mavis married Peter Foster Tripovitch (25 Feb 1926 - ?), a farmer, in Shepparton, Victoria, on 13 July 1975 when she was 53 years old. 

Mavis & Peter Tripovitch c1975
Photographer unknown
(Photo courtesy of A & N Holman)

• Mavis served her local church in the role of treasurer.
• Mavis died in 'Riverside' Deniliquin, New South Wales in 1991 and was buried at the Moama Lawn Cemetery, Echuca. Her obituary appeared in the Record on 15 February 1992, Vol 96, No 5, page 15:

Tripovich, Mavis Naomi (Behrens), born January 6,
1922, at Leeton, NSW; died December 9 and was
buried in the Moama Lawn Cemetery, near Echuca,
Vic. Her grandparents were charter members of the
North Fitzroy church. Mavis attended Avondale
College from 1939 to 1941, completing the business
course. She worked at the Sanitarium Health Food
Company, Brisbane, Old, and at Windsor, Vic. This
was followed by two years at the South NSW
Conference at Wagga, then at the Victorian
Conference office, Hawthorn. She married Peter
Tripovich of Deniliquin in July 1975. She served as
treasurer of the Shepparton and later at Echuca
churches. She is survived by her husband. Pastor
George Southwell and John Stafford assisted in the
service.                                                L. W. Ritchie.

References

Hollingsworth, C. F. (1970, 26 January). Till He Comes. Australasian Record. 14. Retrieved from  http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/AAR/AAR19700126-V74-04.pdf

Richie, L. W. (1992, 15 February). Obituaries. Record. 15. Retrieved from http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/AAR/AAR19920215-V97-05.pdf

Taylor, F. L. (1958, December 8). The Sewer of Carpets was also a Sewer of Seed. Australasian Record. 2. Retrieved from  http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/AAR/AAR19581208-V62-49.pdf

Vysma, H. E. (1971, 4 January). Till He Comes. Australasian Record. 14. Retrieved from  http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Periodicals/AAR/AAR19710104-V75-01.pdf

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank K J Bland for supplying family records, and photographs for this project, and also for sharing his recollections about his grandparents.

Many thanks goes to A and N Holman for sharing their years of research, and for allowing me to use many photographs from their family collection.

Last updated by K Bland on 25 February 2018