Vale Vern Johnson ( 1923 2005 )
Pleas"Lest we forget"
Vern Johnson will be remembered best in the Euroa district for his contribution to Landcare and the establishment of a Tourism Information Bureau in Euroa.
Described by all who knew him as a gentleman, hard-working and compassionate, Vern was educated at Hampton High School and Brighton Grammar, and was active in war service from 1942 to 1946 as a sergeant in the Australian Infantry. His duties included weapons instruction for the Euroa branch of the AIF stationed in Railway Street at the time.
After the war, Vern took up a position as Country Liaison officer with stock and station agents Permewan Wright Ltd for a while. For seventeen years from 1950 onwards, he went into the building trade as a director of Johnson Bros constructions., then in 1967 he and his wife, Norah, moved to Phillip Island, where they established the highly successful Wildlife Park and were instrumental in restructuring the Penguin Reserve and setting up the Island Promotion Association and Conservation society.
These activities were to Vern’s time for the next nineteen years, as well as beef cattle production on his and Norah’s host farm. When they finally retired, they first travelled extensively overseas and then moved to a 170-acre property in the Strathbogie Ranges, where they combined cattle farming with the restoration and enhancement of the wildflower and native animal habitat on their farm. During the remainder of the 20th century, Vern and Norah conducted bus tours of the local area for visitors, helped to establish a Visitor Information Centre in Euroa, assisted with the Wool Week promotion and the Longwood Market and organised five wildflower exhibitions, three in Euroa and two in Seymour. Vern was publicity officer for the P13 Neighbourhood Watch district and a committee member of the Longwood East Landcare Group, of which he became chairman at the age of seventy-eight, and was a founding member of the Euroa Arboretum. He also worked as advertising manager for the Seymour Nagambie Advertiser.
Moving to Beaconsfield earlier this year for health reasons, Vern succumbed to complications associated with his condition, mesothelioma (an uncommon form of cancer, usually associated with previous exposure to asbestos), on 15 September, and is sadly missed by his wife and three adult children.
Vern Johnson will be remembered best in the Euroa district for his contribution to Landcare and the establishment of a Tourism Information Bureau in Euroa.
Described by all who knew him as a gentleman, hard-working and compassionate, Vern was educated at Hampton High School and Brighton Grammar, and was active in war service from 1942 to 1946 as a sergeant in the Australian Infantry. His duties included weapons instruction for the Euroa branch of the AIF stationed in Railway Street at the time.
After the war, Vern took up a position as Country Liaison officer with stock and station agents Permewan Wright Ltd for a while. For seventeen years from 1950 onwards, he went into the building trade as a director of Johnson Bros constructions., then in 1967 he and his wife, Norah, moved to Phillip Island, where they established the highly successful Wildlife Park and were instrumental in restructuring the Penguin Reserve and setting up the Island Promotion Association and Conservation society.
These activities were to Vern’s time for the next nineteen years, as well as beef cattle production on his and Norah’s host farm. When they finally retired, they first travelled extensively overseas and then moved to a 170-acre property in the Strathbogie Ranges, where they combined cattle farming with the restoration and enhancement of the wildflower and native animal habitat on their farm. During the remainder of the 20th century, Vern and Norah conducted bus tours of the local area for visitors, helped to establish a Visitor Information Centre in Euroa, assisted with the Wool Week promotion and the Longwood Market and organised five wildflower exhibitions, three in Euroa and two in Seymour. Vern was publicity officer for the P13 Neighbourhood Watch district and a committee member of the Longwood East Landcare Group, of which he became chairman at the age of seventy-eight, and was a founding member of the Euroa Arboretum. He also worked as advertising manager for the Seymour Nagambie Advertiser.
Moving to Beaconsfield earlier this year for health reasons, Vern succumbed to complications associated with his condition, mesothelioma (an uncommon form of cancer, usually associated with previous exposure to asbestos), on 15 September, and is sadly missed by his wife and three adult children.
posted by Chris Placitella | 9:18 AM
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