Dunedin woman one of last to receive QSM

WHEN Lynore Farry was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal in the 2023 New Year’s Honours List, little could she have known she would be one of the last in a long line to receive the award from the late Queen.

Mrs Farry was awarded the QSM in the 2023 honours list, for services to the community, and officially received it from Dame Cindy Kiro at an investiture ceremony in Wellington yesterday.

The Dunedin recipient previously said it was humbling to receive the honour.

‘‘You don’t do these things for your own personal accolades.’’

Her 30 years of service began with sport and education work, as a way to be involved in the lives of her large family.

But it quickly evolved to wider and wider sections of the community.

She served as chairwoman of the Andersons Bay Kindergarten in 1978 and became inaugural chairwoman of the board of trustees of St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School in 1989.

Following the amalgamation of Moreau and St Paul’s College, she became a member of the organising committee of the newly formed Kavanagh College (now Trinity Catholic College) where she was responsible for the design of the school uniform.

She was heavily involved in sport and acted as a coordinator, coach, administrator, and served as selector of Otago agegroup and under19 netball teams.

She also worked hard to progress women’s rights as president of the Zonta Club of Metropolitan Dunedin for nine years, and chaired several committees within the branch.

She was named a national woman of prominence by the organisation in 2016.

Mrs Farry also played a vital part in coordinating funding for the Sophie Elliott Foundation’s LovesMeNot programme in schools, which teaches pupils how to recognise and avoid abusive relationships.

She has also been an advisory board member of the Dunedin School of Art Foundation since 2011.