THE late Noelene Lyons of Wonthaggi maintained that you could judge the strength of a community by the way it looked after those who had gone before.
Which is why she had a lifelong passion for and interest in local cemeteries, especially the Inverloch Cemetery, where she was a trustee for more than 20 years, up until a few months before her untimely death on Sunday, August 3 aged 74.
She researched, collated and corrected the records of 18 cemeteries over the past few decades, most of them in Gippsland, including Kilcunda, San Remo, Outtrim, Meeniyan, Foster, Woodside and Greenmount near Yarram but found the state of records at the Wonthaggi Cemetery to be among the worst she had seen.
“Most of the cemeteries have kept meticulous records and are an absolute credit to their trustees and managers but there have been a number of periods of time when the records at Wonthaggi have been poorly kept,” she told the Sentinel-Times back in 2023.
“At one stage, the names of the people being buried at Wonthaggi were kept, but incredibly, not the location of their graves.
“It makes it very difficult when you are contacted by family members wanting to know where their relatives have been buried. We do know now all the names of the people who have been buried at Wonthaggi, some 6908, but we don’t know where 683 of them are buried and we will probably never know.”
Ms Lyons said at the time this was a particular problem when trying to identify the graves of ex-service people with which the Commonwealth War Graves Commission took a serious and on-going interest.
“Together with Renee (Loeckenhoff), we have been able to identify the resting place of most of our ex-service personnel and working with the RSL, Renee has been able to pass those records on to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and we have been able to have a number of those war graves rededicated.”
Her labour of love for cemeteries, her interest in the stories behind those buried there and the peace it afforded affected family members to finally know where their loved ones were buried is a legacy that will go on.
“It was her passion, like some people have a passion for fishing or golf. There were many nights that I went of to bed while she was still at the computer working on the records until 12 midnight or one in the morning,” said her husband of 40 years Ian this week.
“When someone has a passion like that, you’ve just got to let them go.
“As a young girl, she used to take a drink and a sandwich to the cemetery and sit among the graves. I think she liked the peace and quiet and it’s always been an interest.
“I’d hate to know how much time and money she spent on chasing down the proper information but I know there were a lot of people who were very grateful for the work she did in finding the final resting place for her loved ones.
“She also used to get calls from the funeral parlours to give them the all clear for their burials after a few mix ups.
“She put together a lot of folders of cemetery records that we’re going to make sure go to the right places.
“Together with a number of other people on the cemetery trust at Inverloch, Noelene was responsible for a lot of the improvements that have been carried out there and she’ll have her own place there now, with her mum and dad,” he said.
As well as cemeteries, Mrs Lyons had a keen interest in history generally, as a Friend of the State Coal Mine for more than a decade and with a keen interest in the Wonthaggi and District Historical Society.
It was something of a sliding doors moment that brought the Lyons to Inverloch 35 years ago.
“Noelene was more keen on the idea of moving to the area than me but I agreed to put the business in Montrose on the market, not thinking it would sell, but it sold straight away,” said Ian.
“One of the kids was starting state school and one high school so it had to be then or never.
“We had a caravan at Inverloch so we moved there.”
Ian continued with a windscreen replacement business and Noelene built a busy direct mail business, in towns across South Gippsland and Bass Coast, at one time with 60 walkers.
They both also raced standard saloons at speedways in Rosedale, Drouin and the like.
“She was a reasonable driver but always reckoned the car didn’t go fast enough for her. She just had to press harder on the accelerator.”
Mrs Lyons death came suddenly on Sunday, August 3, on the way home from lunch with friends to celebrate the couple’s 40th wedding anniversary.
“We took her straight to the hospital and the nurses and doctors there were fantastic, but she didn’t wake up. It was quite a shock.”
The Funeral Service for Noelene May Lyons will be held at Handley and Anderson Chapel, 3085 Loch-Wonthaggi Road, Wonthaggi on Monday, August 11 commencing at 10:30am. At the conclusion of the service the funeral will leave for the Inverloch Cemetery.
Mrs Lyons leaves her husband Ian, five children, three grandchildren and a great grandchild.
She also leaves a grateful community, all the better for her determination to honour our deceased relatives by recording and caring for their final resting places.
