A FAMOUS opera singer from Wodonga has been recognised in being made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
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Nance Grant said she was honoured.
“I feel very special and privileged,” Ms Grant said.
“I am thrilled to bits.”
Born in Wodonga in 1931, Ms Grant made the move with her family to Tangambalanga shortly after.
She later moved to Melbourne when her mother was travelling to and from the city to have treatment for an eye problem.
Ms Grant, who now lives in Melbourne, said she was still connected to the area she once called home.
“Tangambalanga holds all the memories of my childhood,” Ms Grant said.
“I got to know a family called the Coulsens who became my second family.”
After moving to the city she visited Tamgambalanga for school holidays,
“I would stay with the Coulsens and they’d take me motorbike riding and let me milk the cows,” she said.
Ms Grant was previously made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1976 and said she did not expect to ever receive the AM award.
“At my age I didn’t think I would be getting anything special like this,” she said.
Ms Grant said she would continue to look out for rising stars in the Albury-Wodonga area.
Ms Grant has agreed to become a patron of the St Matthew’s Church music foundation.
A gala concert is being planned at the church in Albury to celebrate Ms Grant’s award and to encourage young musicians.
