Olive Webb was born January 25th, 1930, to parents, Frederick Charles and Marion May Webb, in the small Australian town of Moree -- the last stop then on the North West Plains train line, 390 miles inland from Sydney. Her father was the well-respected town solicitor, and her paternal grandfather was the station master with the status that brought in the community. The fifth of six children in a busy and social family, Olive was a precocious child and at age seven was sent to boarding school at Sydney’s Methodist Ladies’ College. Excelling in academics, she received her “Leaving Certificate” by age 15. She was athletic and played center-forward on the field hockey team and in the best Aussie tradition, learned to slam a tennis ball like a pro. The Webb siblings often hosted matches on the family's clay tennis court behind their Moree home.
Olive continued her education at the prestigious University of Sydney, graduating in 1949 (remarkably at age 19) with a BA Honors degree in History, a subject that was a continuing passion of hers. (Empress Catherine was indeed “Great”; King Frederick, “certainly not!”)
Moree, in those days, was quite Edwardian in character. The social season was April and May. As a lovely "young thing", Olive's natural charm earned her invitations to the many local debutante Balls that took place sponsored by private clubs, societies and organizations. She was a dark-haired beauty in her elegant couture frocks; she loved to dance, and her dance cards were always full.
Olive's father owned a racehorse so, oftentimes, the family would attend a race meeting which traditionally was followed by a picnic or yet another Ball. The Webb family had inherited a small sheep station which gave them an excuse to go out into the countryside and "boil the Billy". But you never went out of town if rain was forecast because the Moree Plains Shire is famous for and prosperous because of its legendary black soil which, when wet, caused the rutted country roads to become suddenly flooded and impassable, sometimes for months at a time.
Olive lived a remarkable life: growing up near the Australian bush in a large upper-middle class family; coming of age in an Edwardian society; and then, with her quality education, traveled extensively. She toured the Western world -- from Wales east to Scandinavia and from Scotland south to Morocco; on the way she experienced working in law offices in London, New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Inarguably, Olive was brilliant: she had a mastery of languages, literature, and philosophy, with a sly sprinkling of pop-culture. (“Is Lana Del Rey near Marina del Rey?” she could coolly ask with her instinct for the genuine and the less-so.) Olive lived and breathed culture which she believed showed one how to live one’s life in the best way.
A few of those cultural topics were:
Comedy: Olive loved great moments in the history of popular humor. From Lady Bracknell’s “A handbag?!” to the Marx Brothers and to the disconnected Inspector Clouseau’s speaking on the “pheaun” or complaining about “meorths.” And of course, The Goon Show. To Olive, Peter Sellers was a “wretched man”, but still a comic genius.
Music: Olive understood Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien without translation. Emotionally, it could really have been the theme of her life: to have no regrets about anything; to love the present and all the people in it who were close to her; because in the end, the poetic reality for her was, in the final words of the song: “…today my life and my joys start with you”. When given the opportunity to make a request or sing in her beautiful, untrained soprano, Olive’s go-to song was the epic “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”.
Poetry: Olive was very well-read. Who could have predicted that she would become a dedicated fan of Leonard Cohen? Hungry for knowledge about this austere troubadour, Olive came to know that Cohen’s “Take This Waltz” was translated from Lorca and, although set in Vienna, was not about anything terpsichorean (an Olive word). Always alert and articulate, Olive’s insight was that in art, and often in life too, not everything is to be taken literally.
Literature: Olive was an avid reader of fiction. To her closing days, she loved her visits to the Sausalito Public Library (and later the Northridge Branch Library in Los Angeles), where she would always check out several books on any one visit. Lots of crime fiction; with the occasional Top 10 bestseller, about which Olive could be a very astute critic. (Book club friends: watch out!)
Olive frequently quoted famous (and not-so-famous) lines from plays, poems, or philosophy texts. More than highly literate, Olive knew things to which others did not pay enough attention. Moreover, she was deeply spiritual without being overtly religious, practical without ever being materialistic; Truthful without being dogmatic; so, of course, she disliked everything about the 1950s!
Well, not quite everything. It was in November 1954, during a visit to Italy that Olive met her future husband, a New York architect named Bob Politzer. While travelling in opposite directions, Olive’s and Bob’s paths crossed at a youth hostel in Genoa, Italy. Soon after that, they shared their first “date” together visiting the renowned sculptures at the Staglieno Cemetery. By the end of the “date”, despite the somber locale, they left the Cemetery holding hands, totally smitten with each other. For the next three days they wandered hand in hand around Genoa until it was time to part. They met up again almost by accident, in London where Bob was resident in a rooming house not far from the bedsitter that Olive shared with another Australian lass. Olive and Bob knew that fate had been good to them and that they should remain in contact. They each went home: Bob to Manhattan and Olive to Moree, on the other side of the world.
Olive and Bob never stopped writing to each other, and later, Olive managed to get a job at the United Nations in New York City. Her job title was “Secretary to the Secretary of The U.N. Commission on The Status of Women”. She enjoyed her job and getting to know Bob “on his own turf”. Most importantly, Bob proposed marriage and Olive said, “Yes”.
In 1957 they were wed in Vancouver, Canada, and soon began their lives together in Sausalito, California, where Bob redesigned a house for them that overlooked the Bay. Olive and Bob created a wonderful family together. Four children and eight grandchildren enjoyed happy times together in that house. Raising her children had been Olive’s dream since girlhood and it became the most important job she ever accomplished. Olive tried to pass along some of the etiquette lessons she mastered at boarding school: Rather than blurting out that you were “stuffed” after dinner she encouraged her children and grandchildren to say that they had had an “elegant sufficiency”. Of course, she knew that her “elegant sufficiency” dictate came from a very long 18th century English poem that most likely, she learnt at school. The children too never forgot the phrase, but none chose to adopt it.
While she relished all the children’s individual successes, she found time to buy, renovate and manage by herself, multiple rental properties in Northern California – and given her generous character, there could not have been a more pleasant landlord.
Olive’s parties during this time were renowned. It mattered not if it was one of the many children’s birthday parties she prepared or the numerous dinner parties she and Bob hosted or their beautiful annual Christmas parties, or the fabulous costume party she organized with dancing on their rear patio.
Despite the whirlwind of activity, Olive and Bob still made time to travel with the children in Europe and several of the South Pacific Island groups. Olive took the children to Australia every couple of years for two or three months to visit the Webb family who in turn came to America for visits. In later years, Olive and on occasion Bob, would spend some time each year in Sydney with her sister Eleanor and her husband Noel Hogan visiting her other sisters and their families.
Olive was a vital member of the Sausalito community for over 60 years and will be missed greatly by all who knew her. In her final years, Olive relocated to Northridge in L.A. County to live with daughter Nerissa and the welcoming Forbes. Bob joined her there. Nerissa provided dedicated and loving care through Olive’s several major illnesses.
Olive is preceded in death by her son, Nicholas Politzer, and her siblings Charlotte, Jess, Eleanor and Dick.
Olive is survived by her husband Bob, children Cassandra Wiseman (Malcolm), Adam Politzer (Kristen), and Nerissa Forbes (Mark); and grandchildren Jessica Chase (Jacob), Charles Wiseman (Elaine) and Nicholas Wiseman; Hannah Politzer, Sydney Politzer and Josie Politzer; Aidan Forbes and Sophia Forbes; and Olive’s dear brother, John Webb.
In October 2020, the family gathered to place Olive’s ashes next to her son, Nicholas, at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael. The family plans to hold a celebration of life for Olive in Spring 2021.
Olive was a strong supporter of many charitable causes. In lieu of flowers, please consider a charitable donation in Olive’s name to one of the following charities that were close to her heart.
• The Sausalito Library Foundation: https://www.sausalitolibrary.org/about-us/library-foundation/donate-to-the-library-foundation
• The Performing Stars of Marin: https://www.performingstars.org/donate-index-impact
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