Part of Resthaven’s 90-year history: Bev shares memories of her father Rev. Keith Wiseman

Celebrating our 90th anniversary in 2025, Resthaven Marion Retirement Living resident, Beverley (Bev) Warschauer, 85, shares memories of her father, Rev. Keith Wiseman, who was Resthaven’s Administrator (CEO) in the 1970s.

Growing up in a number of South Australian country towns, Beverley (Bev) Warschauer, 85, remembers her father often being out of the house, visiting members of his parish.

A minister of the Methodist Church (which later amalgamated with the Congregational Union of Australia and the Presbyterian Church of Australia to become the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977), Bev’s father, Rev. Samuel Keith (Keith) Wiseman, would go on to become Resthaven’s Administrator (CEO) in the mid 1970s.

‘He began as a Home Missionary,’ Bev says. ‘As well as volunteering in the area and supporting the community, he used to visit people in their homes. My mother (Hazel) lived on a farm in Geranium. Dad visited her family and the two fell in love.’

‘Then the next Home Missionary came to the area and married her sister,’ Bev laughs.

The Wiseman’s lived at Tumby Bay, Laura and Minlaton, before coming to the city where Keith was the minister at West Croydon, Torrensville, then Victor Harbor. His last parish before retirement was at Prospect. In each of those towns, the church was the centre for a lot of community groups and events.

Bev says she and her siblings were known as ‘the Pastor’s kids’.

‘My dad was quite a serious man, and I was probably held to a higher standard than the other kids in town,’ Bev says. ‘He was strict, and could be a bit intimidating, but there was no mistaking he was in charge. He was very well respected by the communities he was in.’

If a large event was held at the church Bev would help out, as well as regularly playing piano at the Sunday School. As an older child, she ran the Youth Fellowship at Torrensville, as well as the ‘Comrade’ group for the girls, a social group similar to the Girl Guides.

‘My mother was very involved in it all,’ Bev says. ‘She did everything behind the scenes.’

As well as being a dedicated man of the cloth, Keith was an active sportsman, who particularly enjoyed tennis. As a result, a tennis club was formed at Torrensville Methodist Church, which is where Bev, and her now husband, Lawrie met. They were then married there in 1962.

‘Because Dad was walking me down the aisle, my uncle (also a Methodist minister) began the ceremony, before my dad took over,’ Bev says.

In 1972, Keith became the President of the SA Methodist Conference, and in early 1974 Keith took on the role of Administrator at Resthaven. This was an era when Resthaven was expanding its footprint, notably with the construction of an aged care home at Marion, including hostel accommodation and later retirement living.

After his own retirement from Resthaven, Keith entered Resthaven Marion as a resident, living in one of the hostel units before requiring more care and moving to the aged care building. Keith died on 2 Oct 1981.

However, the family’s association with Resthaven does not end there, with a full circle turn of events when Bev and Lawrie moved to Resthaven Marion Retirement Living at the beginning of 2020.

‘We like living here very much,’ Bev says. ‘There are always regular events and activities. We attend the Woodcroft Uniting Church as we know so many people there. A Resthaven staff member drives us there and back each week.’

Thanks for sharing your memories with us Bev! We look forward to celebrating Resthaven’s 90th anniversary with at Resthaven Marion Retirement Living later this year.

For a full list of Resthaven’s 90th anniversary events, visit the events page on the website.