{"id":128029,"date":"2015-11-24T00:38:14","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T14:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=128029"},"modified":"2020-11-03T11:08:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T01:08:30","slug":"lynda-marie-geiger-1969-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/11\/24\/lynda-marie-geiger-1969-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Lynda Marie Geiger: 1969 – 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lynda and Darren Geiger at the 2014 Relay For Life in Kingaroy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 23, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

An amazing thing happened in Kingaroy on Monday afternoon … the Kingaroy Town Hall was packed to overflowing for a funeral.<\/p>\n

The last time this happened was in 2005 for the State Funeral of former Queensland premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.<\/p>\n

Monday’s funeral was for a Kingaroy barmaid.<\/p>\n

Lynda Geiger’s courageous battle against melanoma for the past 16 months has inspired a region.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

On Monday, more balloons appeared, lining the fences at Taabinga State School and more local businesses.<\/p>\n

Council flags in the Town Hall Forecourt were lowered to half-mast.<\/p>\n

Tributes were written on businesses, including her former workplace, the Club Hotel.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

And she did this with her typical good humour, despite her pain and terminal diagnosis.<\/p>\n

Her husband Darren, a local teacher and well-known in cricket and rugby league circles, delivered the main eulogy at the service.<\/p>\n

Her brothers Brian and Matthew, and South Burnett mayor Wayne Kratzmann also spoke.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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 …<\/p>\n

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”.<\/p>\n

Hymns were sung, Bible readings were shared, a video collection of photos shown and the Lord’s Prayer recited.<\/p>\n

Darren and sons Joe, Chris and Adam then helped carry the coffin to the hearse.<\/p>\n

Police escorted the lengthy funeral cortege to Taabinga Cemetery while SES controlled the traffic.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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There was standing room only in Kingaroy Town Hall for Lynda Geiger’s funeral on Monday afternoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Flags were lowered to half-mast in the Town Hall Forecourt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Taabinga State School students hung pink and yellow balloons – Lynda’s favourite colours – along the school’s fences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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One of the many tributes to Lynda Geiger around Kingaroy … this one on the windows of the local radio station<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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