Many members, past members, and friends of the club attended a memorial service for John at Mt Martha on Friday 23rd February.
Photo; Approximately half of the RCM members and friends present at John's memorial service.
We are pleased to publish the obituary complied by Tony Thomas that was available to those attending John's memorial service yesterday.
The passing of John Meehan -- a true Rotarian
Rotary suffered a huge loss with the death of John Meehan OAM on February 14, aged 79.
His services to District 9800 were recognised in 2001 with a Rotary International “Service Above Self” award. These go to only 150 Rotarians annually worldwide.
John retired from banking and insurance with Westpac in 1993, when he was 55. He spent most of his long retirement on high-level Rotary work, including meticulous attention to reforms in governance.
David Rosback, D9800 Governor 1994-95, says, “We could never persuade John to become a District Governor. He wouldn’t give a reason – I think he wanted the time for Lorraine.” Even Royce Abbey, then RI president, couldn’t persuade him. Lorraine says, “John just thought being governor was not his cup of tea. He liked to work behind the scenes.”
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In 2012 John was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for more than 20 years Rotary work. Lorraine earned the same Medal at the same time, but independently for her community work and four volunteer-nurse trips to Kalimantan with Interplast surgeons.
John went twice with Lorraine to East Kalimantan. The old French-built hospital in the capital Samarinda was severely run-down and John, acting as Lorraine’s secretary, quickly got hold of a whiteboard to record schedules for the surgical team. Lorraine says, “In the theatre I told him I didn’t have time to catch him if he fainted. He managed OK."
“Typically, he created a multi-club project when he got home to refurbish the theatres. With help from the Samarinda government we got it beautifully done. But for quite a while our garage was choc-a-bloc with wheelchairs and instruments."
“Later I launched a Rotary and Interplast-funded boat in Kalimantan, called “Rotary Boat”, for getting local medicos to villages upstream.”
John did training of club presidents-elect with Hawthorn RC’s Noel McInnes, who’s a double black belt in karate. They put his boken (a training sword) on the desk like a ceremonial mace while coaching new presidents on speech-making. John warned, “Don’t talk too long. If you see Noel reaching for the boken, it’s time to finish up.” The pair knew that adult training is more effective when there’s fun involved.
As district vocational chair, John was the driving force behind Rotary’s national “Employ Australia” campaign in 1994-95. It resulted in" employers giving a job to 18,000 long term and 35,000 short-term unemployed. The Seekers’ Bruce Woodley gave Rotary rights to the theme-song, “Sing with one voice, I am, you are, we are Australian”. Paul Leeds of ad agency DDB Needham created a TV ad around it. TV stations liked the ad so much they gave it $20m of free prime airtime.
“John slaved to get the project started,” says PDG David Rosback. “St George Bank became a sponsor and we flew every district governor to the bank’s Sydney auditorium for briefings."
“John liaised with future Governor Ann White to computerise a local managing-director contact list for Rotary clubs in virtually all districts. The clubs’ people then phoned them to ask for a commitment. It was the first time in ten years that January national unemployment figures showed a fall.”
District Secretary Marjorie Gerlinger says John persuaded her to “spend a couple of days” setting up the Employ Australia office and systems. “In reality it became three months’ full-time work but it was worth it,” she says.
John was on the team that 11 years ago created what is now the multi-districts’ Victoria Police Mentoring Program. This has upskilled more than 200 senior police. Chief Commissioner Graeme Ashton says three of his deputies have done the program.
John was with Rotary Central Melbourne from 1988 to 2013. As club president in 1992-93, he launched the annual Paul Harris Breakfasts which have now been a major fund-raiser for 25 years, lately drawing 200-300 guests.
Governor Don Jago (2003-04) says that when he went to RI councils on legislation, John would study every resolution for change from clubs and districts worldwide and recommend a D9800 yes or no vote. “John did tons of work on that,” Don says. “He also co-drafted our first manual of procedures on child protection, at a difficult time.” He also co-authored the District’s Club Administration Guideline Manual and Common Club Constitution and By-Laws. John was dubbed “Mr Rotary” -- the go-to person for any Rotary query. Members in predicaments could count on John for sage advice.
In 1993 John took to heart the Rotary project of flood-damage restoration at Benalla, particularly the hospice for the disabled. John helped mobilise District “FAME” (First Avenue in Motion) teams for Benalla that normally went overseas to repair typhoon damage. “John went there from Melbourne six weekends in a row to coordinate the teams and sweep and paint,” David Rosback says.
Governor Des Jones (2000-01) says John in those days had a great appetite for pizza. His favourite meeting place for Rotary business was Colombo’s Pizza House in Balwyn. The place was even suggested as home base for a Rotary club.
John was born and raised in Queenstown where he played the euphonium in his father’s Queenstown Silver Band. He became a junior bank teller there with the Commercial Bank of Australia at age 17. He gained rapid promotion to teller on King Island before heading for Melbourne office.
At Mt Martha he became a member and treasurer of Mainridge Probus Club. He was delighted to chat with new friends about Tasmanian history and local gourmet hang-outs. He loved the neighbourly atmosphere and the bush.
Apart from RI Four Avenues of Service and International Service Awards, plus four Paul Harris awards, a lesser-known award was his Rotary club’s first and only Smartie of the Year Award in 1996-97. This was “for making a fool of himself as Sergeant – one of his fortes.”
In retirement from Rotary John and Lorraine threw open their Mt Martha home to Rotarians for an annual summer barbeque, the last only a month ago.
Lorraine admits, “John wasn’t always on the ball. We met in 1974 but he took a fair while to propose. A good thing he did because our marriage was a joy.