I found this post in my drafts which I didn’t finish last year. At the time I didn’t have the words to say what Lorna meant to me growing up and I really wanted to do her justice but reflecting on someone’s life and their passing a year later gives a lot more perspective. I don’t have to write the best blog post ever, I just need to write it.

Lorna was my Sunday School teacher, guide and mentor. Her mentorship wasn’t a formal role it happened naturally over the years and I’m sure I’m not the only one who wanted to emulate Lorna to some degree. She reminded me of my maternal grandmother in her deportment. I wonder if it’s because they both studied elocution.

It seemed to me growing up that Lorna was everywhere in the community of Flaxley, South Australia. She was a pillar of the local Uniting Church and Ladies Auxiliary at the Flaxley Memorial Hall, the CWA, the tennis club and I’m sure there was more.

Here are some of the results from my brief research into her early life. If there were digital copies of more recent newspapers I’m sure there would be a lot more newspaper clippings but as the digitised newspapers stop at 1954 there aren’t.

Lorna Muriel Chennell, born 17 Jul 1929, married Leonard John Downing 7 Jul 1951, died 25 Jan 2020