A West Coast community icon and friend of the late Carmen Rupe says the traffic light to be unveiled today in honour of Carmen is “a great idea”, however due to the late notice of her invite, she is unable to attend. Carmen and Jacquie Grant at Carmen's 75th birthday party. (Pic: John Stanley) Jacquie Grant first met Carmen in a secret Sydney night club and their friendship lasted for the next 53 years. She hopes the traffic light to be unveiled on Cuba St will be a red one, perhaps to honour Carmen's history in the red light district. Grant is unable to make the event, having only been invited three days ago. She says “expecting to ask people to come on such short notice just is not on.” She says if Carmen was here for the unveiling she would ring her friend and say “'Jacquie they are turning me into a traffic light isn’t that Kamp,’ then she would lick her lips and chuckle then she would ring every newspaper and tv channel to make sure they all knew it was happening.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 8th August 2016 - 11:29am