Lutherans recognised in Queen’s Birthday honours

LCANZ members Nancy Fox, Oscar Joppich, Kevin Kleemann and Shirley Smith have been recognised in the Queen’s Birthday 2021 Honours List, announced on 14 June.

Nancy, of Kirribilli New South Wales, has been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her ‘significant service to the financial and banking sector, and to women in business’. Oscar, of Tanunda South Australia, Kevin, of Lobethal South Australia, and Shirley, of Minyip Victoria, each has been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the awards’ General Division.

The vice-chair of the LLL Board and a member of the Board since 2002, Nancy Fox has served the LCANZ at congregational, district and churchwide levels in various volunteer capacities. A former trial lawyer turned banker from the US who is today a full-time non-executive director, her current service includes being a member of the LCANZ Constitution Review Committee, a consultant to the LCA’s Committee for International Mission, and a member of the LCA Judicial Tribunal.

A Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Nancy has served on not-for-profit organisations for 20 years, including mentoring several men and women. A volunteer firefighter with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, she is a member at St Paul’s Sydney.

Oscar Joppich has been recognised for his ‘service to the Lutheran church and to the community’. The assistant chair of the resident committee at Tanunda Lutheran Home (TLH) since 2014 and chair before that from 2005, he worships with wife Irene and is a volunteer at both TLH and St Pauls Tanunda.

A retired teacher who taught in South Australian Education Department schools from 1954 to 1991, Oscar served on volunteer assignments in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from 1958–1959, 1992–1994 and in 1996. On the first trip to PNG, Oscar taught the children of Lutheran missionaries at the Katherine Lehmann School in Wau, while from 1992, he and Irene were volunteer managers of the Lutheran Guest House in Goroka. In 1996, they returned to Katherine Lehmann to support the attempt for it to become an international school.

Oscar’s service to the Barossa Valley community includes volunteering for Barossa Community Transport Service and community packaging organisation Barossa Enterprises, the largest employer of People with Disability in regional South Australia.

Kevin Kleemann has been honoured ‘for service to the community of the Adelaide Hills’. The former chairperson of the council at St John’s Lutheran Church Woodside, where he remains a member, Kevin is also a life member and past president of the Onkaparinga Lions Club.

Since the 1950s Kevin has been managing director of Kleemann Funerals – a family business started by his grandfather in 1860 – and has also been a member of the Australian Funeral Directors Association for 60 years.

A former member of the Friesian Cattle and Holstein Association Committee of South Australia and a former breeder of Friesian cattle and Clydesdale horses, Kevin has also volunteered for Adelaide Hills organisations over many years. These include the Lights of Lobethal Festival, Lobethal Cemetery, Lobethal Football Club and Torrens Valley Scouts.

Shirley Smith has been awarded an OAM ‘for service to the community of the Wimmera region’ in Victoria.

She is the former chair, secretary and treasurer of the Parish Council of St John’s Lutheran Church Minyip, where she remains a member of the congregation and the Ladies Guild.

A Justice of the Peace since 1994 and former president and secretary/treasurer of the Wimmera Branch of Royal Victorian Association of Honorary Justices, Shirley has served a variety of community organisations as a volunteer over many years. These include the Minyip and District Historical Society, the Minyip Combined Probus Club where she is currently president, the Lions Club Minyip, the Country Women’s Association’s Wimmera Area Group and Dunmunkie Branch, and the Minyip Pre-School.

A former air steward, secretary, and carer and assistant aged-care supervisor, Shirley is also a member of the Philosophical Society and has served as a pianist for Australia Day and Carols by Candlelight events.

The congratulations of the church are offered to Nancy, Oscar, Kevin and Shirley and any other members honoured with awards.