Lynne Margaret Johnstone

She was a warm vibrant person, with a wicked sense of humour. Greatly missed by me her sister and her children. I lived with her and her husband in my teens after my mother died. She was a second mother to me throughout my life. She and Glenn were always supportive with an open door.

One of her first jobs was a coffee shop in an arcade in Camberwell, Vic. After that Lynne worked as a Nurses aide with terminally ill kids at quite a young age. She left that position to become a Policewoman in Victoria at a time when there was only one woman per squad of roughly 30 men. Lynne was stationed in the Western District of Victoria based in Hamilton and being the only policewoman in the region covered an area from Portland to Warrnambool and up to Ararat, Horsham to the border. I have many stories of her life in the Force most amusing some sad. When she met Glenn (a New Zealander) and they decided to marry, she had to leave the Force because at that time, married women weren't allowed.

They were married in the front yard of the house we lived in at Surrey Hills Vic. She wore Grandma Eunsons vale for her wedding and a dress made for her by her mother Beth. I was the flower girl. For their honeymoon they went on an extended overseas working holiday to South Africa for (6 months?) and then to England and then travelling around Europe before returning to Australia. They were gone for 2 Years and unfortunately this was also when our mother died and she missed the funeral, something she always regretted.

For a time they resided in Australia before going to live in New Zealand (where I joined them a some years later). Her first daughter Melanie was born there after a difficult labour. Glenn had his own building business with a partner.

After 2 years I returned to Australia before them. But they followed soon after and within the year her next daughter was born, Jolanta. They bought a house in Brighton and lived there for many years raising their daughters, before moving to Hampton. Lynne was a stay at home mum until her daughters got older, then returned to do some admin work at various places. She was living at Hampton when the cancer took her.

She was an excellent sewer (of anything) and dabbled with art (painting). She had keen interest in music tending towards blues, light jazz and guitar music.

In all she was a wonderful person who I had many a laugh with.

Jo Overend