THE RYERSON INDEX

to death notices and obituaries in Australian newspapers
 

LIFE MEMBERS of RYERSON INDEX INC.

  

Over the years, a number of members have contributed "above and beyond" what could reasonably be expected of a member of an organisation comprised completely of volunteers.

To recognize this, the Committee decided in 2022 to create the category of Life Member. This is purely for recognition purposes - there are no benefits available to any member of Ryerson Index Inc (except the satisfaction of doing a good job!)

Life Members recognised to date are:

     
Year
Recognised		 Name Comments
     
2025 Alan NANCARROW (dec) We are not sure just when Alan started indexing, but it was some time before 2004. As a long-time resident of Ballina, he had a particular fondness for his local paper the Northern Star. He started out (as many do) indexing forward with the current issues, then decided he could do a bit more so he started back-indexing. Fortunately Alan had the foresight to save copies of all the notices (in the days before .pdfs, when it was necessary to photocopy the daily paper.) In 2004 he floated the idea of carrying out a full back-index, going back to the paper's commencement in 1876. This was our first attempt at covering the complete run of any paper, and Alan did it to perfection. Not only did he complete the indexing single-handedly, he also produced six CDs of images of all the notices and obituaries ever published in the paper. This took many years to complete, and subsequently a set of the CDs was donated to the Richmond-Tweed FHS, as well as being one of the foundation stones of our own RNR.
     
2025 Bill SHUTE Bill joined us when we were just four months old, in February 1999. His first contribution was to give us a years' worth of notices from the Central Coast Express Advocate, with the advice that we really should start indexing the SMH from 1946, to continue on from the publicly-available BDM indexes. Little did he know that within a couple of months Joyce Ryerson would turn up with her SMH archive, and his suggestion became our new target. Over the years Bill has worn many hats. Living in Portland, his local paper was the Lithgow Mercury, and he indexed that paper for many years. But he was always available to join any back-indexing project we happened to be working on, and so contributed to the indexing of many papers. A foundation committee member when we incorporated, Bill remained on the Committee until standing down at the 2016 AGM. At the time he had, as well as his indexing duties, the role of Mentor to new indexers, and this he continued to do for some years until ill-health forced his retirement.
     
2024 Pauline KETTLE Pauline put up her hand on Day 1 to be an indexer for the Sydney Morning Herald, and continued in this role until 2018, after 20 years of the SMH. But alongside that paper, for a number of years Pauline saved the notices from the West Australian in Word format, before we had access to the .pdfs. She also acted as a 'fill in' indexer on a number of regional papers. As if that wasn't enough to fill her days, Pauline volunteered to be Secretary when Ryerson incorporated in 2008 - another 16-year role. And we could not have found a better person for that role. Everything from the usual mundane secretary tasks to training and mentoring new indexers (a task she intends to keep doing) - Pauline cheerfully did it all.
     
2023 Julie ASHFORD Julie started indexing the St George Leader at the beginning of 2005, and retired at the end of August 2022. That's over 17 years on the one paper. For most of that time (until 2016) it was a 2-day-per-week paper, reducing to a weekly in 2016. Julie was one of our most reliable indexers – she kept delivering, regular as clockwork, and almost always mistake-free.
     
2023 John NANCE John started indexing in mid-2005, when he answered my appeal for an indexer to cover the Manning River Times. He has been involved with numerous papers over the years, lately having taken on the Daily Telegraph (every day) when Sybil Jones retired, as well as his local Fairfield and Liverpool papers, The Age (2 days per week) and his local Funeral director. Add in some back-indexing, and John regularly produced between 30,000 and 50,000 entries each year. He has been a major contributor to the success of Ryerson.
     
2022 Sybil JONES Sybil was our very first indexer, who took on the indexing of the Daily Telegraph on the day we formed the DPS group which subsequently became The Ryerson Index. For over eighteen years, Sybil submitted the daily file of indexing for the Telegraph, until retiring in late 2016, with over 100,000 entries to her name.
     
2022 Peter KETTLE Peter has been a supremely efficient deputy to the Founder and President for the entire life of Ryerson, firstly in an unofficial capacity, and since incorporation, as Vice President. He managed the incorporation process for Ryerson in 2008, and his retirement from an executive position in 2022 left a very large hole. Fortunately he continues to serve on the committee.

This page is owned by Ryerson Index Inc, a non-profit organisation incorporated under the laws of New South Wales, Australia. The last update was 1 December 2025.