22 Warrandyte Diary
March 2017
A life remembered in stone
obituary
ALAN B. ALDER OAM LFAIES April 18 1928 – February 3 2017
By GARY BIRKETT
ALAN joined the Shire of Doncaster and Templestowe — now Manningham — unit of the Victoria State Emergency Service in 1966 at the age of 38. His long and distinguished volunteer career lasted over half a century and he was the Unit Controller for his SES unit for 24 of those years. His dedication to helping others was a huge driving force in his life; he was heavily involved with the Warrandyte Historical Society; the Warrandyte, Park Orchards, Wonga Park Police Community Consultative Committee (W.PO.WP.PCCC); the Warrandyte Housing and Support Service and the Manningham Municipal Emergency Planning Committee.
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In 1996, Alan was awarded the prestigious Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to his community, he was the Manningham Senior Citizen of the Year in 2002. Alan’s contribution to his community was further recognised in 2003 when he was made a Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow through the Rotary Club of Warrandyte. Manningham SES Unit Controller Greg Mitchell stated: “I worked with Alan Alder as a volunteer for 25 years and I have nothing but pure respect and admiration for him. “Alan’s professionalism, honesty, integrity and respect for others will be sadly missed within the SES and his community as a whole.”
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By SAMMI TAYLOR
A new monument has been erected at the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery in memory of Jon David Johnston, a climber who passed away in Shishapangma, Tibet, in April 2016. It is a site to behold, and a celebration of Jon’s life and spirit of adventure. The monument is the largest that the Kangaroo Ground Cemetery has ever seen, a 1.2sq metre stone cube that weighs over 5500 kilograms. The Shanxi black granite stone was mined from Hunyuan County, China, and crafted by Lodge Bros — the stonemasonry company that built Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance. Susan Johnston, Jon’s wife, says that he was very clear about how he wanted to be remembered, typing up a document back in 2009 for his after-wishes, and even specifying he wanted the maximum size allotment at the KG Cemetery, so that his monument would “perhaps even survive our species”. “For as long as I’ve known Jon, he has loved old cemeteries,” Susan said. “During our honeymoon, as we drove through the back roads of beautiful New England, we stopped every time we passed a graveyard;
when the boys were little, Jon would take them on outings to nearby cemeteries, challenging them to find the oldest gravestone and as a family we spend hours wandering through burial ground wherever we travelled, from Beechworth to Baja.” Jon passed away at Shishapangma, Tibet, the 14th highest mountain in the world on April 24 2016. The bodies of Jon and his climbing companion were never recovered, and his memorial states: “There we remain.” The inscriptions on each of the four sides of the monument share details about Jon’s life in his own personal voice. From his climbing expeditions, to his love for his family and coaching basketball in Park Orchards. “MY LIFE WAS AWESOME” is inscribed at the top of one panel, that lists his loves and achievements. “Jon was not your typical, ordinary guy, and his memorial stone isn’t typical or ordinary either,” Susan said. The memorial can be found at Kangaroo Ground
Cemetery, 545 Eltham-Yarra Glen Rd, Kangaroo Ground VIC 3097. If you would like to make a donation in Jon’s name, please visit the Alex Lowe Charitable foundation page online, where all donations will go towards building the Khumbu Climbing Centre in Nepal. To make a donation: www.alexlowe.org