Maxine Klarnet

Maxine was born in Adelaide and grew up in the very small Jewish community in that city. She moved to Melbourne in 1966 as she wanted to participate in a more Jewish lifestyle than was possible in Adelaide.

In 1969 Maxine moved to Sydney and really felt at home. She married Jack in 1972.

Maxine joined WIZO in 1974 after the birth of her first child Nicole (followed by Daniel in 1976) as she wanted to be more involved in the community and meet more people. She was in a small group called WIZO Golan and quickly became very interested in what they were doing. They all had small children and had lots of functions which involved them.

Maxine became secretary of the group but eventually their membership declined and the group amalgamated with another, WIZO Ayelet, where she was asked to become Treasurer, as her background was in accounting. At the same time Rony Bognar was the group’s President and they worked very well together. Josie Lacey invited Maxine onto the State Executive some time later, and she served as assistant to Wills and Bequests.

In 1992 Maxine became Treasurer of WIZO State Council of NSW.

Again with Rony as President, she continued as Treasurer until 1998 when Federation moved to Sydney. Rony and Maxine moved from Ayelet group positions to Federal roles as President and Treasurer until Federation moved back to Melbourne in 2006. Maxine was then awarded Life Membership.

For many years, Maxine attended conferences and plenaries in different states and formed many lasting friendships with members from all the states. In 2000 she attended her first international conference in Israel and has now been to 5 conferences in total. It is a wonderful experience to mix with women from around the world.

In 1999 Maxine was awarded the Rebecca Sieff award and then in 2020 she was thrilled to be given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

When her older granddaughter was Batmitzvah in 2018 in Melbourne, Maxine was thrilled that she donated the money she received to the WIZO Twinning program. They had not discussed it at all, but her granddaughter understood that Maxine had been so involved for many years and regarded it as something special to do.

Maxine has also been a volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum for over 20 years, and also with JNF and Council of the Ageing. She is also involved with B’nai B’rith.