The Inventive Spirit: Wendy Azadegan's Journey Through Engineering and Life - Life Bursts Episode 55

In this captivating episode of Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah, we dive into the fascinating life story of Wendy Azadegan. From her father's inventive genius to her own journey as one of the first women in mechanical engineering, Wendy's tale is one of perseverance, curiosity, and unexpected turns.

Wendy begins by sharing the story of her father, John Bales, an unsung hero in the world of household appliances. Despite inventing an early version of the dishwasher while studying engineering at university, John never received credit for his innovation. His story is a reminder of the often-overlooked pioneers whose ideas shape our daily lives.

As Wendy's narrative unfolds, we learn about her own path into engineering - a field dominated by men in her time. Her experiences as one of the only women in her program highlight the challenges faced by trailblazers in male-dominated industries. Yet, Wendy's story is not just about breaking barriers; it's about finding one's true calling, even if it means taking unexpected detours.

The episode takes an intriguing turn as Wendy describes her journey from atheism to faith, sparked by an interest in nuclear physics. This intellectual pursuit led her to question the nature of existence and ultimately to embrace the Baháʼí Faith, demonstrating how scientific inquiry can sometimes lead to spiritual awakening.

Wendy's story culminates in a serendipitous meeting with her future husband, a tale that reminds us that love often finds us when we least expect it. Her anecdotes about organizing a wedding in a day and her unconventional approach to life add humour and depth to her narrative.

Key Moments with Quotes:

On her father's dishwasher invention: "He decided to invent a dishwasher, something you could have in your house. There was at that time some industrial type dishwashers in Europe, but that they were great big things and not something that you'd use at home."

On being one of the few women in engineering: "I went to the orientation lecture and there were about 200 engineering students there in the orientation lecture and there were six women and I was the only one in mechanical engineering."

On her spiritual journey: "Eventually I decided that the whole thing is just impossible because I imagine myself going into the inside of a nucleus of an atom and I imagine myself to be an electron. And way over there is a proton. And how do I know there's proton over there? I don't talk to it."

On meeting her husband: "I got in a queue for a cup of tea and coffee. And I was introduced to the man two behind me, which is my husband."

On organizing her wedding: "Organizing a wedding is really easy. I can do it in a day."

FAQ's:

Question: What was Wendy's father's most significant invention?
Answer: Wendy's father, John Bales, invented an early version of the dishwasher while studying engineering at university. However, he never received credit for this invention.

Question: How did Wendy's interest in nuclear physics lead to her spiritual journey?
Answer: Wendy's deep dive into nuclear physics led her to question the fundamental nature of existence. The complexity and seeming impossibility of subatomic interactions led her to conclude that God must exist, marking the beginning of her spiritual journey.

Question: How did Wendy meet her husband?
Answer: Wendy met her husband in a queue for tea and coffee at a Baháʼí meeting in Noarlunga. She had actually seen him once before at a different meeting but hadn't spoken to him then.

This episode of Life Bursts offers a rich tapestry of personal history, scientific curiosity, and spiritual growth. Wendy Azadegan's story serves as an inspiration, reminding us that life's path is often unpredictable, but always fascinating.

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Episode Transcript:

**Matthew Carratt:**

Welcome to Life Bursts. I'm Matt.
**Sarah Freeman:**

And I'm Sarah. Do you have a dishwasher or a washing machine in your home? Well, if you do and you've ever wondered where they came from and how they were invented, we're going to find out today.
**Matthew Carratt:**

This is Life Bursts. Great to have you joining us today. And in the studio today, we have the privilege of learning a bit of history and hearing the story of Wendy. Welcome, Wendy.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Thank you for inviting me.
**Matthew Carratt:**

It's great to have you with us. Wendy, tell us, where did life start out for you?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Well, I grew up in Belair. My parents. Well, my father was an engineer and I had a younger sister. And oddly enough, we're all short. I thought we were a normal family until after many years, I realized that everybody was taller. But when I grew up, I thought I was just a normal person.
**Sarah Freeman:**

But there you go, dad, she's sitting on two pillows. I just wanted. I was like, people are probably very confused right now because you're, like, the same height as us. I'm on one pillow.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

I'm on two.
**Matthew Carratt:**

It's good. Great that you could all join us.
**Sarah Freeman:**

We just gave away our television secrets.
**Matthew Carratt:**

So, Wendy, your story begins with your father's story?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Big influence on you and where you went?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. Well, my father grew up in Clare. His father was the mayor of Clare, and then he was sent to Scotch College. And the thing he hated most was he had to wear shoes because in Clare, all the boys used to run around without shoes and he just found them so uncomfortable. So for the rest of his life, he wore shoes that were two sizes bigger than he really needed, so they were roomy. And he wasn't a good student. He preferred to make things in the shed and fix people's toys and fix people's airplanes and potter around making things. And Latin was a compulsory subject and he failed Latin, so he failed high school and they got him an apprenticeship. And then the Second World War broke out and he joined up and he was in the Air Force. Now, because he is short, when they inspect people and decide what's a good career for them, he was good at maths and he was short and lightweight, and they decided he'd be a good. A good navigator.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

To get in airplanes. Yes. And so the pilots apparently chose their crew from the big mass of people that was available to him. And he was chosen because he was small. So he became a navigator in a bomber. And he got a Distinguished Flying Cross, which apparently is very prestigious, mainly due to the Very high death rate of the crews that if you manage to do a large number of sorties and survive, that was quite a thing. And he stayed in that all through the war. And then at the end of the war, they used to take politicians and dignitaries and officials out over the Europe to show them the devastation. And so they stopped all their security measures and their procedures. And on one of these, he fell through the bomb doors that hadn't been locked. And he was hanging on for quite some time trying to shout to people to come and help him, but nobody could hear him because it's a very noisy environment. And eventually he was rescued and he said that all that time during the war he was scared that he was going to die and very frightened. The only time he nearly died was after it was all over.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Right.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And he decided he wouldn't worry about anything for the rest of his life.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay, fair.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And yep.
**Sarah Freeman:**

There's nothing. You know, I understand that.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

I never saw him shout or get angry. He was a very quiet, gentle person and very studious and he worked hard. Anyway, after he came back to Adelaide and the government had a system where if you had a technical job during the war, you could go to university, even though you didn't necessarily have the right qualifications. So he did mechanical engineering also. Another thing that happened at that time in university, we see in movies, particularly American movies, about how they have all sorts of initiation ceremonies for students, some of which get a bit violent or a bit rude and quite unpleasant for them. And this was also in Adelaide University, but after the Second World War, when all of these soldiers came back who'd been taught hand to hand combat and how to kill people and had actually put it into practice in many cases. Yeah. When this group arrived at university as first year students, there was no way that this culture of initiation could continue because they wouldn't have it. They just thought it was a load of ridiculousness. So it completely stopped. So Adelaide University hasn't had that culture since then. It's a very nice university to go to.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay, so some positives come out of that.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So when he was at Uni, he was broke, of course, and he had a job and one was driving taxis and another one was washing dishes at a hotel. And he decided that washing dishes is not a good thing, so he decided to invent something better. So he decided to invent a dishwasher, something you could have in your house. There was at that time some industrial type dishwashers in Europe, but that they were great big things and not something that you'd use at home. And he spent all of his spare money getting manufacturers to make the parts because the parts did not exist. Even dishwasher powder tablets did not exist. Nothing existed. So everything had to be manufactured. It's all very expensive getting somebody to make a one off part. And also he spent all his money on crockery and glassware from the op shops because in the early days of his invention, it was a dish destroyer.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I'm sure it was.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Okay.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Trial and error.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

My mother was not much impressed with this because he never had any. Any money at all to take her out to the movies or to dances because he spent it all on his dishwasher. So he spent so much time on it that he actually failed a couple of subjects in fourth year and he had to repeat it. And they were. This time they were married and they were really broke. In those days, after a woman got married, she wasn't allowed to work. So she got some work with grandpa. He was an accountant, and she got work as a secretary because she could type. And she had to support dad at university. So he did eventually finish his degree and he got a job at Kelvinators. Now he patented his dishwasher, and he tried to sell the patent to Popes, who were manufacturer at that time, and they helped him a little with his project work as well when he was developing it, but they said it was not a working idea and it wasn't going to work and nobody would buy it.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay, Famous last words.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah, that's right.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So after three years after he was married and actually working, the patent fees were so expensive, they decided they just couldn't afford. So they dropped the patent immediately. Pope started making dishwashers. So in our family, the subject of dishwashers was never discussed. It was a. We're not going to talk about its subject. And it wasn't for years when I was an older teenager that I discovered this story. Because we washed up by hand at home. My sister. Mom said she had two dishwashers, myself and my sister. And we used to sing while we washed up dishes and harmonize together. So it was rather fun singing dishwashing until my sister got married and then I moved out of home. Then she bought a dishwasher.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Oh, okay. Right. Oh, no. Okay, we're going to leave it there. And we will be back straight after this Of Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah. Welcome back to Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah. Today we're chatting with Wendy and we're hearing about the invention of the dishwasher. Pretty awesome. You got to the part of the story where your sister brought a dishwasher. Because you weren't talking about dishwashers up until this point.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

No, my mum bought a dishwasher. Your mum brought my sister and I moved out of home.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Ah. Because you guys weren't there.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Feelings backwards.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So when I got married and I, we renovated our kitchen, I of course bought a dishwasher and I discovered that you can't substitute dishwasher powder by using dishwashing detergent.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yes.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Don't do it. We had a kitchen floor full of foam like in the movies. And you can't get rid of them. You got to get all this fluff out. And then you just get more and more and more because you're still inside the dishwasher. It's very time consuming clean-up process. Better off to just take the dishes out, wash them by hand.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yeah. Or go down the shop, buy the proper thing to put it there.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Good tip.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. And these days we do own a dishwasher here. I use it to store my kitchen pans.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay. Storage. Another cupboard.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

My husband likes to wash it by hand.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay, Very good. Does he sing?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

No.
**Sarah Freeman:**

No.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Sad.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Now you're. We've been talking about your dad. So what's your.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

What was.
**Matthew Carratt:**

What's your dad's name?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

John Bales.
**Matthew Carratt:**

John Bales. Okay. And so your dad, not only uncredited, invented the dishwasher.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

He also has some history with washing machines too.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay. Yeah, tell us.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Well, when he graduated and went to Kelvinators, they were working on washing machines. Now they had a washing machine you could buy at that time, which is an agitator. And then you have another device next to it where you take it out of the washing machine and put it through the wringer. Because this is days before drip drying polyester and everything creased. And by the time you put it in through a wringer, it was just ruined, covered in creases. You hang it out on the line and then you have to iron it all. My auntie had a copper which was a giant cauldron, and you put it over the top of a wood fire and she had this huge stick which you stir it with. And the clothesline was a long sort of thin rope thing on two big sticks. If you didn't handle it properly, it would all fall over and everything would go in the mud and you have to wash it all again.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yes, I know all about that. My grandmother used to have that as well. Yes. If you didn't get it in the ground right at the right angle Just.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Whoops.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So that's what people were dealing with at that time now. They were trying to invent a dish, a washing machine that would spin dry. And they had a prototype and my mother got the prototype and she was instructed very carefully on how to use it. And my sister was in nappies at that time, which all had to be washed. There was no disposable nappies those days. They were clothing. And she decided to wash the nappies and when she pulled them out, they were covered in dark brown stains. And she was so depressed at this because Pam needed clean nappies that she started crying and she couldn't deal with it with this experimental thing that just ruined all her nappies. Yeah. And we didn't have a phone. And she went to the neighbours who had a phone and rang up and said, the nappies are ruined. And they didn't believe her and she cried. And a group of engineers, about 10 of them all drove over to our house to inspect Mum's washing. And firstly, they accused her of putting in dirty nappies.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Right.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Without cleaning them first. And they were very accusational (sic). And she was crying. She was. Couldn't cope with it at all. Eventually they realized that the machine was leaking grease. It was grease. She still had a line full of ruined nappies.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

She couldn't use. But it wasn't her. No, it was the washing machine. And when I was older, we had experimental white goods in our laundry. We had one washing machine that you just put the dirty washing in. It didn't have an engine, it was just a box and you could sit on it. So when I needed a band aid, I was sat on there and the first aid kit was nearby. That's the place to sit for band aids. And the other washing machine worked and we had experimental kerosene heater in the kitchen, which used to work okay sometimes, but every now and then it would explode and cover everything in the kitchen in black soot.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Why did you have an experimental heater?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Well, they were trying to invent one for sale to the market, but it didn't actually go into production because they couldn't get rid of this mystery, occasional exploding problem.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And it makes people quite unhappy with things like that.
**Sarah Freeman:**

So why were you picked as the experiment?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Well, dad works there.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah, yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

This is the thing with the white goods companies, because I ended up working for electrolytes and they would give trial units to the families of the employees and working there.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yeah.
**Matthew Carratt:**

So you're just the guinea pigs.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. Yeah, yes, yes.
**Sarah Freeman:**

They could have Picked anyone else. But your dad obviously put his hand up.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yeah. Well, you need someone who's not going to. Who knows it's a trial unit and knows that things could go wrong and you need to be willing to report what happened. Yes. But later on in Dad's life, he joined the Public Buildings Department and then he did a great deal of work on access for the disabled. And one of the things he was trying to do is to see what people in wheelchairs could cope with as far as slopes, going up and down. Slopes? What sort of slopes? Someone can push someone up and down, what height handrails they need, what diameter handrails, what radius of corners, what doorway sizes, what they need in a bathroom and a shower. And he wrote the code for access for the disabled. And later on, when we were in our other house, we had to put on extra toilet outside and because we had crash repairs, we had to put in a disabled access toilet so that the public could use it if they needed to. And I had to follow this code to the letter, sort of obligated. Dad was still alive at that time. We had these peculiar requirements for where the drain hole has to be. Why? And he said, because when you drop the soap, it will flow, it will move to where the drain hole is and it needs to be where you can reach it.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm just thinking about all those disabled access toilets right now. Yes. Thinking about those. The showers, like literally what you're saying.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. So I have on occasion gone on holiday while my back has been out and I figured I might as well go on holiday because I could be at home with my back out or I can be on holiday with my back out. More fun to be on holiday. Mighty inconvenience, but I've done it and I have rated many of these places. When you go in there, can I actually use the toilet? Can I get to it? Can I get to the sink to clean my teeth? No, I can't. Bed quite.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Did you drop the soap just to see what would happen?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Sometimes these things are not well thought out when you actually have to use them and you have serious problems. Yes.
**Matthew Carratt:**

So your dad played a big part in raising the standards and helping people.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And he spent a lot of time. He had models. For example, this little wheelchair here is a scale model and he had scale passages and corners and rooms, and he would experiment with his model to see if people could actually get in around with it. And also he went to visit all the homes and residential care facilities and set up real ramps and make believe rooms and ask people to negotiate it. So he did write the code, but what he told me was that it's virtually impossible to write something that suits everybody because children can be in wheelchairs and their hand height is very low and their hands are very small. Six foot six men can be in wheelchairs and their hands are much bigger. The places where they want to hold it, the strength of the rails needed to hold themselves up is all different. He said it needs to be designed for the person who's using it. You can't have a global standard that suits everybody. And some people have a good right hand, some people have a good left hand, some people neither. And some people need to be assisted and some people have to stand on this side or that side to assist. It's all very complicated. It really needs to be done for the person.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yes.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah. Well, you can talk us through this little model that's on the table straight after this on Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Welcome back to Life Bursts with Sarah and Matt. And we're chatting to Wendy and in Wendy's hands you're holding what looks to be a wheelchair. You were describing it earlier, something that was a bit of a prototype that your dad has helped for those with disabilities.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes, it's a scale model. It's for working out on a scale room plan, how you can get around corners in a wheelchair, what size doorways you need, what position these hand basin should be in so you can actually reach the taps and use the water. And we found this at mum's house when we were going through things, her things after she passed away. But.
**Sarah Freeman:**

So what's it made of?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Oh, it's. It's metal and rubber. Real wheels.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

But all to scale. And here's a hand for. With elbow for reaching.
**Sarah Freeman:**

There we go.
**Matthew Carratt:**

He's pulled this together with whatever he could find and created. Yeah, it's fantastic. Now, your dad was quite, quite inventive then. As an engineer, I can't say I'm.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

As inventive as my father. I always wanted to invent things. All the stuff I do is very minor.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Because you've got another contraption here. Yep. Pop that one down. Tell us, what is it? This is a stick with a claw on the end.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Not a cattle producer.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

You could go to cheapest chips and buy something for picking up with. But dad made this in the days where those things were not available.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yes, I've seen them with crocodiles on the end now.
**Sarah Freeman:**

So it's a claw that you.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

He made this for mom after she had a gallbladder operation. This is days before keyhole surgery. And she couldn't bend and she couldn't get up off a chair. And this is for picking things up off the ground. Was very, very handy. Excellent.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yeah. Now, your dad, for all that he, you know, he didn't get much credit for the washing machine, but he was recognized for his contribution later on.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. He got an Order of Australia.
**Matthew Carratt:**

We have a photo of that here.
**Sarah Freeman:**

We do, yes. My father received an Order of Australia medal. It's quite a privilege and honor to see your father receive something like that for the work in the community. How did you feel when your dad was.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Oh, I was very, very pleased. Yeah. Mum was very pleased too, because he put a lot of effort into it and he got some recognition for it.
**Matthew Carratt:**

And this was particularly for his work around the disability.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. For access for the disabled. Yes. Yeah.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Fantastic.
**Sarah Freeman:**

What year was that?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Oh, maybe 84ish.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Oh, yeah, yeah. Did you have to dress up in your best.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Oh, I didn't go. They went to Canberra.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Oh, wow.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. To meet the Governor General and get presented. Fantastic.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Oh, that's great. So your, your dad was obviously a big influence on you in lots of the ways.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Of course, all his friends were engineers as well.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Right, okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And all they ever talked about was engineering, much to my mother's annoyance. And so I grew up amongst engineers and when I went to high school and had to choose a career, I decided to be an engineer, which was fine. Everybody said, that's fine. But what they didn't say is, do you understand what it's going to be like to be the only woman? So I went to an all girls school, I went to Walford and I went to the orientation lecture and There were about 200 engineering students there in the orientation lecture and there were six women and I was the only one in mechanical engineering. Unbeknown to me, I was the second woman to study it and the first one was 20 years before me.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Wow.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So it was very unusual.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And I felt like the odd one out. Yeah.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I was about to ask, how did you feel? How did you make friends?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

I wasn't an outgoing person. I was very quiet and shy and I was in a class full of blokes and they decided that I should be this token woman. So whenever we had a guest who had to be welcomed or introduced, I had to do it. Whenever there's anything special to do, I had to do it and I didn't want to be like that. I wanted to be ignored at the back of the class. I didn't have that sort of personality. And there was no women's toilet in the mechanical engineering building. Had to go to civil engineering. They had one.
**Sarah Freeman:**

How far was that?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Oh, it's another building. And when we did training in using machining like lathes and cutters and other things, we went to the technical college on Frome Road, I think it is in the city and next to the teachers college in that building there was no women's toilet. So you had to go down to the ground floor, out walk around and go into the teachers college to use the ladies loop. It was quite a trick and sounds like it. And I remember we did also welding course at the EWS waterworks department where they trained their apprentices. And we had to start at I think 6:30, it was the middle of summer, we were doing welding and I had to wear overalls and to get there I had to catch a train from Belair and a bus out to somewhere where I had no idea where I was. So I had to leave home in the dark with a torch. And someone must have seen this torch walking along the road after a couple of days and reported it to the police. And the police came and stopped me and there I am, this short girl wearing overalls and a torch. Where am I going? I'm going to welding training at Ottaway or somewhere like that.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Wow. You want a different world.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes, but I was a very good welder, actually. I was what I.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay, well, there you go.
**Matthew Carratt:**

As you were looking to study this, you know, in a very different world to today, were you. Did anyone try to deter you and say, look, you can't do this, you're a woman?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

No, nobody did that.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Nobody at all. Yeah, yeah. But I quit after second year.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Or in second year because I didn't want to do and be an engineer. And then I got a job making. No, I went. I was an insurance clerk.
**Sarah Freeman:**

That's different. You've gone from being one of the best welders and the only woman in the class to now doing that.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. And that's a jump. And then I realized after I did that if it takes you only two weeks to learn your job and you're going to be doing the same thing for the next three years that you get very boring. So every year we'd have an annual interview with a personnel officer and I would always burst into tears. I never remembered to take tissues and it was very embarrassing. Eventually I promised I'd go back and Finish my degree.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Because I was bored and I went back to Uni and I did second year and third year and fourth year and halfway through fourth year I quit again.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay, Okay. I want to know about this husband that you keep talking about. Now we have interviewed him before, so we have his side of the story.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes, yes.
**Sarah Freeman:**

So what's your side of the story of how you met your now husband?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Well, after I quit the second time, I got a job making tailor made sheepskin car seat covers.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay. That sounds a little bit more unique than going in and doing insurance. So.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yeah, and I really enjoyed that, apart from the fact I was a little bit allergic to the wool, but I enjoyed the work. It was very hands on. And I used to be able to recognize any car from the inside, not from the outside. I could recognize a car by the shape of the headrest and where the seams were on the, on the chairs and wow.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay, so what did you do? Just like look at the inside of the car and just be like, yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yep.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Whereas most people would look, oh, I.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Once went up to Queensland and got paid for a tour through the rainforest. And I got in the backseat of the car, I said, oh, it's a Land Rover.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I love this. I love this. Okay, we'll have a break and we'll come back straight after this with more Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah chatting with Wendy. Welcome back to Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah. And today we are chatting with Wendy and I just asked her about meeting her husband. But I'm aware that there is a story in the lead up to this because we did hear Kay's version of the story last season. So take us back.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Okay, well, so I'm a happy little person making sheepskin car seat covers. And I was quite content and I was going to be single and have a low income for the rest of my life. And that didn't bother me. I like saving money. I like buying very cheap things and renovating them and I could get by. Then I developed an interest in nuclear physics as one does. So I just out of the blue, yes.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Randomly, like, were you sleeping or something.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And you just woke up, you're like interested in it. And I got my old books from home and I was. Because I'd forgotten most of my maths. So I got my old maths books and I was trying to work out what the formula was for the area of a circle by drawing it on the graph and counting all the squares to check was it PI r or PI R squared? It's PI R squared. I know that. I counted the squares, okay? I counted them all on grid and you forget all the formula. Then I worked out all these tricks for working out. It might be this or might be that. Then work out, do a little test with numbers you know the answers to and put them in your formula and you work out which is the right one. Oh, and because I'd forgotten most of it, and I was very, very interested in nuclear physics and subatomic atomic particles, and I read up on it a lot. I used to get books from the library. And eventually I decided that the whole thing was impossible. God must exist.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay, all right. So this is like a soul searching exhibition.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Well, it wasn't the intent, but eventually I decided that the whole thing is just impossible because I imagine myself going into the inside of a nucleus of an atom and I imagine myself to be an electron. And way over there is a proton. And how do I know there's proton over there? I don't talk to it.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I don't know. Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And I'm spinning around and spinning around. It can't see me, doesn't know I'm there. I mean, there are subatomic forces, but why should there be subatomic forces?
**Matthew Carratt:**

These are big questions.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

These are big questions.
**Sarah Freeman:**

These are very big questions.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Why is space infinite? Why is time infinite? When you meditate upon it, they are impossible. You can't do this without God. God must exist. Now, I was a strong atheist. My father wanted to be a missionary when he was young. But during the Second World War, he used to study religious books to become a missionary. But he was so horrified with the war, he didn't know why God didn't stop it. And eventually he decided that God did not exist, became a really strong atheist. So we never discussed religion at home. However, my grandmother was a Bahá’í. She met somebody on the balcony of the hotel in Clare, we don't know who it was. And she found out about the Bahá’í faith and became a Bahá’í. She was very, very keen Bahá’í. She gave us all these books which we put in a bookshelf and never touched in the bottom room. And she invited us over to meetings at her house, which we never went to, and avoided all of her Bahá’í functions. Then my auntie became a Bahá’í, then Grandma's sister became a Bahá’í, but we never talked about. So I, after deciding that God did exist, thought, oh, well, I'll ask Aunty Ruth for a book. And she turned up the next day, probably very Excited. She was very excited. We had become closer because her husband had passed away and she had season tickets to the Adelaide Festival Theatre. Theatre productions.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And so I was the only single person in the whole family. I was the black sheep of the family. And she invited me along to go with her as the only single person. And so we used to chat together. And, like, she asked me one day what I wanted to do with my life, what I thought was important, and she said, oh, you sound like a Bahá’í. Oh, no, I've read about that. There's nothing in it. Oh, no, she said, because I'd read a little booklet and I wasn't impressed years beforehand. No. This time I rang her up and she came over with two very complex, heavy books. So I read the thin one first, and that was about the most difficult book you could ever read. Then I got halfway through the second one and became a Bahá’í.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Which created quite a dilemma of how to tell my parents since they were really not into this. Nevertheless, I became a very happy, enthusiastic new Bahai. And we used to have meetings at different people's houses. Now, I was not an entertainer. I never, ever had guests.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah, I got that vibe from when you were talking about being at university and the only female.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. I didn't have guests and I didn't have a circle of friends. I was a bit of a loner, and I have my parents over twice a year, which means I washed up dishes twice a year.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Not in the dishwasher.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

No. I used to pile them up around the kitchen, and when they got too many, I'd cover them with towels. And then eventually I'd have to put a bucket in the kitchen because there was no space left. And I washed them all up in a bucket. And I had a very large crockery selection, so it took me quite a while to run out. And I was feeling that, too.
**Sarah Freeman:**

It would take you a really long time.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

This is from the woman whose father invented the dishwasher. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just didn't wash dishes.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yeah.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Did you have a large house or.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

I rented one of those split houses.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So I had two bedrooms and a kitchen. It was large enough, so.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Large enough to store all of your cutlery.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Dirty crockery. And I discovered stainless steel will rust.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Good to know. Good to know.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Especially if you leave it next to silverware or something like that. There's a metal interaction between the two different metals, and it can make it rust if you leave it in water for long enough.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Thanks for your experimenting on that.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Behalf.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I know I now know something for the rest of my life. So do the people watching and listening.
**Matthew Carratt:**

So you dishes people.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So I became a Bahá’í and I was due to have one of these meetings at my house, which is a big deal for me. So I prepared all the teacups and did your washing. Did my washing, teacups and sauces. And I'm going to digress. I met a lady recently, a friend of mine, she lives in Mount Gambia. And she said to me, same thing, she, she said, you taught me how to hide the dishes.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

She never knew. She said she came around to my place and the kitchen was a disaster. And she sort of said something about it. And I said, no worries, I can fix that. And I got a towel and just covered it all.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I am going to say, I do remember it back in the beginning of Life Bursts and I came here one time and you said, yeah, you could just put your dirty dishes in the, in the oven and hide it from your mother in law.
**Matthew Carratt:**

There you go. Good tips because we are in. This is your home, Wendy. We're in the studio in your home.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So really happy domesticity is not my thing.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Beautifully neat. I'll go and check the oven afterwards.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I'm going now.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So we were due to do this half an hour before the meeting. The same lady rang me up and said, oh, there's a wonderful guest speaker from overseas in town. We should go to that instead. And I said, but no, everybody's coming to our house. She said, don't worry, I'll ring them.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I just did it. I just washed all my dishes, I.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Cleaned the house, I've got the trays out, the teacups and the coffee and the biscuits and the cake and she's cancelling it so much reluctantly, we had to go to this meeting. Now I was at West Croydon and the meeting was at Noarlunga. And by the time we got there, we were quite late. Not only that, Noarlunga Centre is a big complex. Undoubtedly by now it's much, much, much bigger. But we had no idea where this meeting room was. We wandered around in the car park in the rain for one hour. Eventually we found the venue and we went in and I must have been a bit bedraggled as well, and I sat down and everybody clapped. The whole thing was over. And then they invited everyone up for a cup of tea or coffee. And I thought, right, I am definitely in the mood for a coffee. I was wet. It was summer actually, but it must have been one of those summer wet Days it wasn't cold, but I got in a queue for a cup of tea and coffee. And I was introduced to the man two behind me, which is my husband.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay, that's a good spot.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Hold that thought because, yeah, there is more of the story to tell. We're chatting to Wendy. This is Life Burst with Matt and Sarah. This is Life Burst with Sarah and Matt. We're bringing you Wendy's story today. Wendy, We've just cut off at the moment.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

You.
**Matthew Carratt:**

You met your new husband across the room at Noarlunga.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. In the queue for a cup of tea.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Oh.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

So I have actually seen him once before and he'd seen me. I'd been in a meeting and I was wearing a second-hand velour pink tracksuit.
**Sarah Freeman:**

What's a velour?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

It's sort of like a velvet.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And I was not this big, but I was not a slim person. And he had seen me at that meeting asking questions, and he was fascinated.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Fascinated by you?
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. And he waited back, apparently, to speak to me afterwards. But I had volunteered to go and help clean out all the rooms at this camp and to check for belongings that have been left behind and things like that, and all the rooms that people were in. So I was one of the last people to leave. So he didn't actually meet me. And a couple of months before, I had two Iranian ladies who were refugees, Bahá’ís, living with me, and they had wanted to go to a funeral. And I told them I couldn't take them there, that I could pick them up. And it was. The meeting was at Pennington Hostel, and I went there after work to pick them up. There was a room full of people and asked, who was it whose wife died? And they pointed to this very tall man diagonally across the. The crowded room. Tall, dark stranger across the crowded room. And I looked at him, I thought, oh, I wonder if he wants to get married. The first thought that entered my head, I thought, Wendy? No, I'll eat something. Don't go down that track. So I had met him across a crowded room. So we kicked off very swiftly and we got on really well. And I used to write letters to him, which he used to use a dictionary and his son to help understand. And because his wife had died earlier and he had three kids, I used to go over there after work to his house and I'd help the kids with their homework and read all the letters from school and tell him what all the bills were and the letters he got in the mail and cook dinner and Sit with everyone while we watch tv. And then when everyone was asleep and the kids were put to bed, I'd go home. And I was falling asleep in the car regularly. It was dangerous. And we had sort of decided that we will get married. But I didn't want to wait too long because I'll have an accident. And so I told my mother that we came home and said, we're engaged and we want to get married. And she said, well, you have to wait because we're going overseas in two months and it takes a long time to organize a wedding. Of course, you need at least a month anyway for notification. And I said, oh, no, Organizing a wedding is really easy. I can do it in a day. You can, right? I made a few phone calls. I found a place that had a vacancy on the date we wanted. And we went over the next day, all of us, my husband and I and my parents. And it was at McLaren Vale, it was a restaurant. And they had some menus, and we chose a menu. They had colours that they have all the serviettes and everything. For that they can decorate the room. The choice of four. I chose a colour. Don't remember what it was. Didn't matter at the time.
**Sarah Freeman:**

It mattered a lot.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

But no, no, it didn't matter to me. I just wanted to get married. I wasn't into ceremonies. And besides, his wife had just recently passed away. She had cancer. And he couldn't do a big celebration. It wouldn't be appropriate. So we had a small wedding, I think about 35 people. And you can organize it every day, right? Yeah.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Well done.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And the day two days before, I didn't know it. It's a Persian tradition that the groom buys the dress.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. So we went into town and we bought a dress for me and some shoes. And I didn't realize it, but my husband gets very stressed when he goes shopping. If he has to stand still for more than a minute, his back aches.
**Matthew Carratt:**

I can't relate to that at all.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

I chose the shoes for my wedding in 30 seconds. I had to be quick.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Wow.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes. No debating things and going. Rather shops are trying this on and that on and that on. No, no, no, no, no. Choose it and be done with it. And it was a relatively simple wedding, and I was quite happy. Great, Because I was madly in love with him. But the day before we got married.
**Sarah Freeman:**

I know.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Yes.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

He said to me that he wouldn't marry me unless I promised to go back to Uni and finish my degree. So he had two Master's degrees. One that he never discusses, which is in zoology. Didn't discover that for several years, but apparently he hated it.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Okay.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Didn't like dissecting animals.
**Sarah Freeman:**

You know, while we're recording this, he's like out in the producer room just like listening to you right now.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Secrets out.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And his other degree was in biology.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Could you just turn out.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And he was a teacher. And in his later years he used to teach at the teacher training school as well and at high schools. And it's very much into education. And he thought that I should finish my degree. And I didn't want to finish my degree, but I was madly in love. So I said yes. And you have to understand what sort of person I was when he met me. I was a very strange person at that time. About six months beforehand or maybe a year beforehand, I'd gone through a phase where I was meditating about life. And I realized that all of my attitudes and my standards were based on advertising and media and magazines. They weren't my attitudes, they were the attitudes of what people wanted me to think. And I got really, really angry. And I went into my bedroom and I destroyed every pair of my shoes, I destroyed all of my jewellery and I ripped up all of my clothes in this intense two hour period of anger towards the world. So by the time I had finished, I realised I had nothing to wear to go. Even to go out in the garden because I've always liked gardening, except I had to miss the washing hamper. In the washing hamper was a pair of bathers. Later that day the neighbours saw me gardening wearing bathers. You thought it was an odd sight.
**Matthew Carratt:**

Yeah, yeah.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Oh, well, doesn't matter. We are only up to when you're in your 30s. So we are going to have to have you back to continue to share more of your life stories.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

Okay.
**Sarah Freeman:**

But I am aware that you do have a piece of advice to share about meeting a husband. So we have one minute.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

One minute. Well, you always imagine you're going to be in your best clothes with your makeup on and your hair done perfectly and a beautiful dress. So I was wearing a second hand dress after being out in the rain for an hour.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yeah.
**Wendy Azadegan:**

And in a queue for a cup of tea. And that's where I met my husband. So all those years and years earlier, I spent all this time making myself look gorgeous. And I was a hot chick once upon a time.
**Matthew Carratt:**

There you go. What a great way to leave on that note. But Wendy, I love your stories and there's lots more to share. So we look forward to bringing you back next week as you continue your story to hear more from you.
**Sarah Freeman:**

Yes, this has been Life Bursts with Matt and Sarah. You can catch up with us wherever you get your podcasts from on social media, television and community radio. This has been Life Bursts. I am Sarah.
**Matthew Carratt:**

I'm Matt. Have a great week.
**Voice-Over:**

Life Bursts is hosted by Matthew Carratt and Sarah Freeman with production by Rhys Jarrett and Keykhosrow Azadegan. For more episodes of Life Bursts, go to https://rawcut.au, this is a RawCut Production.