Heather McLean, seated, with Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy to her right as well as friends and family at her investiture ceremony. Photo / George Novak
Heather McLean, seated, with Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy to her right as well as friends and family at her investiture ceremony. Photo / George Novak
"How about a high-five?"
That was volunteer extraordinaire Heather McLean's first reaction to having her Queen's Service Medal pinned to her chest by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy in a special investiture ceremony at Waipuna Hospice yesterday.
McLean's medal, awarded for services to genealogy and historical research, was announced in the 2019 New Year Honours.
Usually, recipients of royal honours travel to Government House in Auckland or Wellington for group investiture ceremonies.
When it became apparent that 81-year-old McLean, who has terminal cancer, could not travel and may not have much time, her longtime friend Helen O'Connor arranged the special ceremony.
It was held in the hospice lounge, with the guest of honour surrounded by around 30 family members, friends and colleagues met over more than 40 years of volunteering in the heritage sector.
Heather McLean, seated, with Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy to her right as well as friends and family at her investiture ceremony. Photo / George Novak
Her commendation was read aloud, noting her many years of work with, among others, the New Zealand Society of Genealogists, the Mormon Church's Family History Centre, the Pyes Pā Cemetery office and the Tauranga City Library.
Notable contributions included decades of transcribing headstones in Bay of Plenty cemeteries for the benefit of family historians and researchers, and completing a database of air-related deaths from 1899 to 2016.
Dame Reddy said McLean and her work had been a source of inspiration, encouragement and motivation for many others.
Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy held a special investiture ceremony for Tauranga Queen's Service Medal honouree Heather McLean in Waipuna Hospice. Photo / George Novak
Fiona Keane, Tauranga Heritage Collection curator, said McLean's contribution to the city's "heritage family" could not be underestimated.
"She has been a source of information for myself and many who work in the heritage sector in Tauranga. If she doesn't know something, she always goes and finds the answer.
"What can't easily be expressed in a commendation is that she has reunited families with her work. She has brought many people together and solved many mysteries."
Stephanie Smith, a heritage specialist at Tauranga Libraries, said McLean once told her that "if she had not been a genealogist, she would have been a private detective", a good choice for her skills and determined nature.
"Her generosity has earned her the deep appreciation of everyone who comes into contact with her."
Heather McLean spent more than 40 years recording gravestone information in Tauranga Cemetary. Photo / Supplied
McLean, a lifetime resident of Tauranga who grew up playing in the trenches on the redoubt, said she had always enjoyed helping people find their unknown relatives, birth parents and missing ancestors.
"I just want to help people, that is what I always wanted to do."
She credited her father with instilling in her a desire to volunteer.
