SASR Tribute - Celebration of Life for Fran Heffernan

Fran (Frances Mary Heffernan) was very much an integral part of the Special Air Service Regiment’s unique fabric for a period that spanned decades. From 1974 to 2010, Fran served as what many would call the Officer’s Mess Mother.

In 1993, Fran was awarded her Public Service Medal to recognise her service to SASR. This award noted not just her outstanding service in supervising mess staff, but her impact on SASR’s capability. This included her counselling service which was provided to many of us, including our families and a very significant group of esteemed leaders.

Anyone who entered Fran’s domain became one of her boys, and their families became part of her family, without discrimination or favouritism; whether they be a young reinforcement Captain, a returning OC or CO, or indeed even a retired General, come Honorary Colonel, come Governor General. Once in her family, you remained such for life.

In an era when the mess was the social centre point for serving members, their partners and their families. She was a mother who put others first and had a very real influence on the unique Regimental culture. Nothing was too good for those she was “Mother” to. She had an intuition around how individuals were feeling and what would make life just that bit better.
She was also steadfast in making sure life would indeed be better. On one occasion the old Army wooden beds and foam mattresses in the Mess were replaced with new frames and spring mattresses. It sounds somewhat trivial, but this was when live-in entitlements were rudimentary, to say the least. On inquiry, it was discovered that her incessant pestering of key players in the Military District Headquarters at the time made this a far easier option.

Fran was her happiest when the new group of Captains completed selection and would spend up to 12 months living in the Mess, while they found their feet in the Regiment and their new posting locality. As was typical of the time, the antics of these types could be somewhat boisterous. However, Mother Fran took her role very seriously and ensured egos were kept at bay.

The cry of “where is that little Monkey;’ would generate a degree of apprehension amongst anyone in earshot, not knowing who the intended culprit was. On a few occasions, laughter would resonate at the vision of a young captain being chased down the corridor by Fran waving a wooden spoon in hot pursuit shouting “you can’t get away from me you little Monkey”.

Fran also had a love… perhaps more a skill… for chatting. If one was in a hurry, it was with a degree of trepidation that one would walk into the lines for fear of being “Fran-bushed”. Such occasions would typically result in a delay of at least an hour. She was always ironing or washing something, so if she could align these domestic tasks with a chat with one of her charges, she was very happy indeed.

There were also those premonitions. She often predicted who would be successful on selection after a single meeting prior to the selection course; who would be a CO; if new relationships would end up in marriage; where an item of mess dress was in that frantic hour of searching just prior to pre-dinner drinks; where someone’s right shoe was after a big Friday night at the bar… the list goes on.

So, Fran was driven by one thing – an intense love for others. We were all her family and she was as proud of the achievements of her SAS family as she was of her own children and grandchildren. Her love for us all was genuine and unconditional. She kept an ear to the ground and if someone needed a helping hand, a discreet word from Fran would often initiate action.

While not a uniformed member of the Regiment, Fran was undoubtedly a significant part of it. Her name is meaningful to so many generations of SASR and their families.

Fran’s character was a fine example of the unit’s ethos. She personified Humility in everything she did. She was thoroughly committed to her role in the Regiment, with a Discipline that was second to none. She had a Sense of Humour that had an affinity with that of the Australian soldier and brought warmth and joy to all she interacted with. She represented a Sense of Family and winning the greatest Respect of the most junior to the most senior of the Regiment. And Fran was unrelenting in her Pursuit of Excellence, devoted to ensuring the people she loved were afforded a living environment she believed they deserved. And all she achieved, which was a great deal practically and intangibly, was done so from behind the scenes, without fuss and without accolades.

She provided a total of 36 years of service to SASR, more than most soldiers ever provide throughout their careers, and her love for the Regiment never faltered once she left. In the last week, I have received reflections from many former commanding officers and distinguished leaders of the Regiment. All sharing very similar stories of a lady who was deeply impactful on their lives and their time at SASR.

For this reason, the Regiment will forever be indebted to Fran for her service and her support that has contributed to make SASR what it is today.

We wish Frans family the condolences of the Regiment. We are grateful to have been such an important part of the life of this wonderful lady.

Who Dares Wins


Getting to know Frances Mary Heffernan (nee O’Grady) (14 Jul 1936 to 18 Sep 2024) - From Marie Fenton

• Frances Mary O’Grady was born at the Dunolly Hospital in Victoria on 14 Jul 1936.
• Second child of Sarah (Sadie) and John (Jack) O’Grady. Sister to Eileen (eldest), Margaret, John and Phyllis. Her father worked as a butcher and her mother worked in the local hotel.
• Fran loved to suck on lambs’ tongue which she had retrieved from her father’s barrel’s.
• Fran started school in Bealiba (Victoria) when she was six years old.
• She grew up in the Great Depression and to the day she died would not put butter & jam on a scone it had to be one or the other. She was also a hoarder in case something might come in handy one day.
• Her family moved to Timor (Victoria) when the Great Depression hit her father’s work, when people could not pay for the stock, he had brought.
• They moved to Maryborough (Victoria) after the birth of her sister Margaret.
• Fran and her sister Eileen were enrolled in Maryborough West 404 school but only stayed a few weeks because of bullying. Catholics were not tolerated.
• They moved to St Augustine’s school where Fran completed her education.
• She started work aged 14 at the Maryborough Knitting Mill. Fran was good at her job and enabled her to work across several machines.
• While Fran was at the Knitting Mill, she played in the Maryborough ladies football team as a player and fundraiser. She also paid for the bus to take the stream to Carisbrook for the match. Fran would give her the shirt of her back if she could.
• Fran was also known to bring home a bag of snowballs on pay day for her Mum and a beer for her Dad. Fran continued to love snowballs all her life, even though a diabetic, she loved to have a bag of snowballs as a treat and share with anyone who was present.
• Fran worked at the Knitting Mill until she was married on 16 Jun 1956 to Raymond John Heffernan, a wood cutter.
• Early married days were spent living in Colac (Victoria) and then returning to Maryborough (Victoria) in 1959 for the birth of their first child Maria Bernadette Heffernan and 1960, their first son Peter John Heffernan was born.
• Fran, Ray and family moved to Sydney after Ray had completed his initial employment training with the Army. Their third child, Kenneth Raymond Heffernan, was born in Sep 1961 and the family boarded a ship with other Army families to travel to Malacca where they would stay until 1963.
• The family was part of history, it was the first time Australian troops who were deployed on operations could take their families. There were long periods apart because some deployment went on for months. Families were encouraged to participate in volunteer work. Fran volunteered to work at the orphanage.
• On returning to Australia (Brisbane), Fran and Ray had two more children, Jennifer Leslie Heffernan 1965 and Anthony Kevin Heffernan 1966.
• Fran worked tirelessly to get the doctors to recognize that there was something wrong with Anthony. Eventually a Profession Randal Short approached Fran, who was at this time very distraught after another failed doctor’s visit. Anthony was paralyzed from the waist down. Professor Short later diagnosed that Anthony had a clot of blood on his brain. He did not operate on Anthony until after the family had moved to Townsville (QLD) in 1967.
• The family lived in Townsville from 1967 to 1974 (Jun). During which time, Theresa Elizabeth Heffernan was born in 1969 (sixth child) and Ray had completed three tours of Vietnam.
• Life was not easy for the family within an authoritarian environment. We now know that PDST went undiagnosed and like was not easy for the families for returning servicemen.
• Fran supplemented the family income by working at an old people’s home (assistant), Central Hotel (cleaner) and Mid-Town Motel (Cleaner).
• The family lived through Cyclone Althea by Fran and Ray both taking turns in holding the front glass door closed while they could see other homes being destroyed.
• The sliding door moment for Fran’s life took place when Ray was offered two posting, one to WA and one to Canberra. Luckily, he picked Perth (WA) because if it had not been for that decision, Fran’s life and that of her families may have taken a very different turn.
• In Jun 1974, on arrival in Perth during one of its coldest winters from Townville’s heat wave, the family was housed in an old disused Nurses quarters at Campbell Barracks (Swanbourne) because there were no houses large enough in Seaward Village (Swanbourne).
• Fran started working at the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) Officers Mess no long after arriving at Swanbourne.
• After 20 years of marriage, Fran and Ray separated and Fran fought to keep all of the children together and not separated (boys with Fran and girls with Ray).
• Fran had two parallel families – one was her six children, their spouses/partners and the other - the officers and members of the SASR.
• On the maternal side, Fran is the Nana Fran to 21 grandchildren and GG to 18 great grandchildren.
• As the ‘Mother of the Regiment’, Fran was recognized not only for 10, 20 and 30 years of service as a Batman, She was also made an honorary member of the SASR after receiving a 10 year commendation. You may read sometime that there are X members of the SASR and one woman. Fran was that woman.
• She was awarded a Public Service Medal during an Investiture at Government House (Perth) on Friday, 30th April 1993. Words from investiture shown below:
'MRS HEFFERNAN HAS SERVED AS BATPERSON IN THE OFFICERS’ MESS OF THE SPECIAL AIR SERVICE REGIMENT SINCE 1974, RESPONSIBLE FOR SUPERVISING THE MESS STAFF. HER OUTSANDING SERVICE HAS EXTENDED TO A WIDE RANGE OF ADDITIONAL UNPAID DUTIES INCLUDING ACTING AS COUNSELLOR TO A LARGE NUMBER OF SERVING MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES, ACTIVELY SUPPORTING THE UNIT’S FOOTBALL TEAM AND PARTICIPATION IN THE REGIMENT’S LADIES AUXILIARY. SHE HAS SUBSTANTIALLY CONTRIBUTED TO THE REGIMENT’S HIGH MORAL AND TO ITS STANDING IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY.'
• Fran was made redundant in 2010 (aged 74) after working for 36 years at SASR, it was because of staff cutbacks across the Australian Public Service.
• If her health had not started to decline, she would have continued to work (unpaid) at Campbell Barracks until she could not work anymore. Steps had been taken to put Fran on the volunteer list with SASR Museum for work at the Officers Mess. She could do anything that she was capable of. She mothered a lot of officers who have progressed in life but always hold Fran with the highest esteem and love.
• Fran was invited to Government House (Canberra) by the Governor-General for the launch for the DVD series, ‘The Australian SAS – the Untold History’ . Fran had played a part in getting the series to be produced by Professor Bruce Horsfield and the SASR Association. Fran had also been videoed during the ‘Black Hawk’ tragedy in 1996. Fran and other supporting personnel (chaplains, army liaison officers, Regiment staff and their families and list goes on) worked tirelessly to care for the families of those who were on the exercise and those who did not return.
• Since retirement, Fran had the opportunity to see more of her family and her extended family. She has had numerous medical issues but was a fighter and when diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney disease, it did not stop her love of life and thought there was always someone worse off.
• Fran had been in pain for years as a result of chronic systems affected by Diabetes. She was independent and lived alone at home in Rockingham but had angels helping her in the form of carers from Mercy Care. She was one of their favorites because she would prefer that they sit and have a cuppa and get of their feet when they were at Fran’s. She understood had hard it was to put food on the table and wanted to give her carers a rest before they continued on their way.
• Her family helped cover all of the other carer duties associated with giving her the best possible support to ensure that she could stay at home.
• The highlights of her life have always been around family (ours and the Regiment’s), every birth, birthday and occasion (engagements and weddings) were special. More so if she was able to attend.
• In April this year, Fran attended her granddaughter’s (Cailin and Jack’s) wedding. She loved the ceremony and the reception, but most of all she loved the sense of family. Not all of the family were able to attend but they were there in spirit and Fran was in her element, holding court.
• ANZAC Day every year was a solemn day for her to remember her father (Jack O’Grady) and those of the SASR who had passed away. She liked the dawn service at Rockingham but would have loved to be at the dawn service at Campbell Barrack. However, in the past few years, Fran had the chance to catch up with old and dear friends at the ‘House’, the home of the SASR. It was special to see how people loved and respected her and the effect that she had on their lives.
• Fran had experienced several falls over the years, and it was a fall during the early hours of the Saturday morning (7 Oct). She had been up with her legs (Lymphedema and Cellulitis) at 4am to redress her legs (very independent, always thought she could do a better job than the nurses). She went back to bed and awake at 6am and on rising her legs failed her when trying to maneuver her walker. She did not have her emergency medallion on and sat waiting for her daughter (Mary) and husband (Dick) to arrive.
• Fran normally on falls, tries to roll to the phone or has her medallion on to start the emergency response to a fall.
• Fran was taken by Ambulance to Rockingham General Hospital (RGH) where they found out over the weekend that she had fractured the neck of her femur. She was transferred to Fiona Stanley Hospital on Tues 10 Sep and operated on Wed 11 Sep.
• Fran returned to RGH on Thurs 12 Sep for rehabilitation. She developed a urinary infection with Sepsis and Delirium. When her family were told the treatments were not working, she was surrounded by her family (ours and SASR former and serving members). She was lucid and even under medications she knew what was happening around her.
• The family took the opportunity to hold their own ‘Halloween’ event even though a bit early, Fran, family (grandkids and great grandkids) dressed up. Halloween was one of Fran’s special nights, she would prepare snack bags of sweets (and sours) to be handed out to children on Halloween night. She would dress up as a witch, sit on her walker with baskets ready. Great grandchild would turn up to help hand out the bags. ‘Adults weren’t allowed to have lollies and couldn’t come in through GG’s door’, her great granddaughter (Emmy), aged 5 was heard to say to her grandfather (Eammon) one Halloween night.
• The family was told that the treatment was not helping her kidneys, and she passed away on Wed 18 Sep at 0630. Family came to her room to pay their respects and remember a life well lived.