My Account
4 July 1947 – 9 September 2021
The Wharehine and Wellsford communities lost a valued volunteer and committee member of both the Albertland Heritage Museum and Minniesdale Chapel with the sudden passing of Lynette (Lyn) Johnston this month. A prolific contributor to many publications (including Mahurangi Matters) and local and national museums, Lyn was recognised as a dogged and meticulous researcher, with a vast knowledge of local history.
The Marsh family moved to New Zealand as Albertlanders in the 1860s and the descendants have been part of the community to the present day. Although Lyn was born in Australia, she returned to New Zealand as a young child, arriving on the TSS Monowai in November 1949. She came from an Air Force family, so grew up in the Whenuapai area, attended Hobsonville Primary, and was a foundation pupil at both Whenuapai Primary and Rutherford High Schools. After a short spell in Christchurch, she spent most of her adult life in Kaikohe, but moved to the Marsh homestead in Wharehine in the early 1990s to be a companion, and then carer, to her mother Isabella (Belle) Johnston. After her mother’s passing, Lyn remained at ‘The Farm’ until her own passing.
Since moving to the farm, Lyn gave selflessly of her time, spirit and energy to the Albertland Heritage Museum and the Minniesdale Chapel committee. She was instrumental in the success of the yearly museum calendar and numerous exhibitions. Her enthusiasm for the heritage of the district was contagious and she strove to engage the wider community in understanding and appreciating their shared history. Museum visitors were assured of a warm welcome whenever she was on reception and she was never too busy to help people search for fragments of their personal family histories. She was also enormously proud of her Albertland heritage.
Lyn was a self-taught but accomplished artist and her paintings won a number of awards in competitions. Her works, either commissioned or simply given as an expression of thanks, hang on many walls throughout NZ. She was also a keen muso, having sung in her youth during the folk era with her younger brother Phil’s band. Although hearing difficulties hampered her listening to music in later life, her voice was always to the fore when Phil unlimbered up the “geetar”. Lyn also enjoyed theatre and the ballet. Known to many as Aunty Lyn, her passing will leave a space in the community which will be hard to fill.
Lyn passed away suddenly at North Shore Hospital on September 9 after a very short illness. She is survived by her two children, Christy and Richard, and three granddaughters, Nadia, Robin and Lynette.
