November 23, 2015
An amazing thing happened in Kingaroy on Monday afternoon … the Kingaroy Town Hall was packed to overflowing for a funeral.
The last time this happened was in 2005 for the State Funeral of former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
Monday’s funeral was for a Kingaroy barmaid.
Lynda Geiger’s courageous battle against melanoma for the past 16 months has inspired a region.
When her death on November 16 was announced, pink and yellow balloons and ribbons spontaneously appeared around Kingaroy streets and shops in tribute to her life.
On Monday, more balloons appeared, lining the fences at Taabinga State School and more local businesses.
Council flags in the Town Hall Forecourt were lowered to half-mast.
Tributes were written on businesses, including her former workplace, the Club Hotel.
The cancer left Lynda confined to a wheelchair, but that didn’t stop her from putting her final months of life towards the task of raising awareness about melanoma, and assisting fund-raising for cancer research.
And she did this with her typical good humour, despite her pain and terminal diagnosis.
Her husband Darren, a local teacher and well-known in cricket and rugby league circles, delivered the main eulogy at the service.
Her brothers Brian and Matthew, and South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann also spoke.
“Lynda Geiger has changed the landscape of Kingaroy and the South Burnett forever … she became the inspiration for us all to do better,” Mayor Kratzmann said.
Brett Otto, from the Melanoma Awareness Foundation, delivered some sobering statistics to the packed hall: south-west Queensland is the melanoma capital of the world; one person dies of melanoma every six hours; melanoma kills more young people than road crashes …
He is planning a 1420km walk next year from Townsville to Brisbane to raise awareness about melanoma. He announced at the funeral that it would be called “Walk With Lynda – A Melanoma Journey”.
Hymns were sung, Bible readings were shared, a video collection of photos shown and the Lord’s Prayer recited.
Darren and sons Joe, Chris and Adam then helped carry the coffin to the hearse.
Police escorted the lengthy funeral cortege to Taabinga Cemetery while SES controlled the traffic.
And then a barmaid – born in Gladstone who has touched the hearts of more people in Kingaroy than any politician ever could – was laid to rest.
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