It is with some pleasure and satisfaction that the All Saints Kaukapakapa Cemetery Committee can advise that after four years all the headstone repairs have been completed. A number of years ago an old wooden headstone (148 years old) was found under the Church, and as no corresponding plot could be found, it was passed into the care of the Te Awaroa Museum in Helensville. There it stayed until the decision was made to return it to the church. Wooden headstones are not often still found as they rotted at the base, but in 1875 timber was the available material!
Moving forward to the last repair - the headstone for Fanny Johnstone was over and broken, (died 27 August 1898, aged 50), wife of Henry de Harcourt Johnstone and mother of Sydney (died 1876, aged 1 year and 10 months). Now completed, Fanny’s headstone is upright and the wooden headstone of her beloved son Sydney is attached to the reverse, once again safely within his mother’s embrace. Sadly, Sydney’s father passed by suicide two and a half years after the death of his wife and he is buried nearby.
Our thanks to Steven, Valu and Isea from Monumental Headstones and Plaques Ltd for their care and respect.
