Glennis’ decades of dedication acknowledged

Her volunteerism started in the 1960s, and was fairly consistent until her retirement from the last of her volunteer roles just last year.

She filled some of the roles for more than 20 years.

It is that dedication that has seen Mrs Pohlner recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours List this week.

She received an Order of Australia in the general division “for service to the community of Tocumwal”.

Only learning of the honour herself Thursday last week, Mrs Pohlner was both shocked and humbled.

“I’m a bit overwhelmed,” she said.

“There are plenty of other people in the community who volunteer more than I do, especially now I’ve cut back.

“I think I got a letter about the OAM a little while back, but I looked at it and thought, ‘this doesn’t concern me’. But then I got the phone call on Thursday.

“I’m still a bit amazed.”

Mrs Pohlner has not been told who nominated her for the OAM, but her citation specifically mentions her work with the Tocumwal Lions Club and the Tocumwal Lions Community Hostel.

She was a volunteer with both for more than 20 years.

Her role as a Meals on Wheels volunteer also spanned more than 20 years, with other volunteer roles highlighted including as a canteen volunteer at Tocumwal Public School, Tocumwal Girl Guides and Tocumwal Junior Tennis.

Mrs Pohlner and her late husband Len initially got involved in the hostel as helpful neighbours.

They then joined the board, with Mrs Pohlner’s 24-year term as a director including a period as chair.

“We live opposite where the hostel was built, and my husband and I would volunteer to help with the gardening, cleaning windows and other jobs. We just wanted to help out, really,” she said.

“We then became part of the committee, and I only put my resignation in last year.

“I really enjoyed my time there, but I had knew surgery which has slowed me down and some of the changes, including all the paperwork, was just a bit beyond me.”

Mrs Pohlner’s association with the Tocumwal Lions Club began before the hostel was established, but her official membership spanned from 2000 to 2022.

During that time, she served as president and won two of the club’s prestigious awards.

She received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award in 2018. It is presented to those who donate $1000 to Lions Club International Foundation Australia.

In 2007, she was presented with the James D Richardson Honour Award, which is achieved through making an undesignated gift to the Australian Lions Foundation of $500.

Mrs Pohlner said highlights of her time with Lions were being involved with the junior public speaking program, and the acquisition and transformation of the former Tocumwal bowling club into a community space.

It was in 1976 that Mrs Pohlner and her husband started volunteering for Meals on Wheels.

While her later work commitments limited the time she could donate, Mrs Pohlner remained involved until 2020.

“That came about through Len. He told me ‘I’ll drive, you deliver’, and that was it,” she said.

“I was not working at that stage, but when I started working for the doctors I slowed down, but Len kept it up.

“A lot of the people we would deliver to did not have families, and it was nice to have a chat with them.

“But I couldn’t chat too long with all of them, or the meals would be cold by the time we finished delivering them.”

Mrs Pohlner’s associations with the school canteen (166-1973) and junior tennis (1966-1972) evolved through her children - Kevin, Denise, Gayle and Kerrie.

Like with the hostel, the tennis court’s location across the road from their homemade involvement, almost unavoidable.

Her connection to the Tocumwal Girl Guides was also the result of her daughters’ involvement, although Mrs Pohlner had a long-running personal and family connection to the Guiding movement before coming to the Southern Riverina.

In Tocumwal, Mrs Pohlner was the ‘Brown Owl’ of the group, which is the name given to the Guide leader.

Her own mother, Mavis Southerland, held the same role when she grew up in the Mallee region.

Through her mother’s involvement, she started as a member of Brownies and then graduated to Guides.

The Pohlner’s relocated to Tocumwal with their young family in the late 1950s, initially running a building supply business and then a family-owned bus run.

They did a “variety of other things” too, but Mrs Pohlner said it’s now time she stepped back from it all and just thought about herself.

“I love my garden. It’s a little bit big for me to do on my own now, though,” she said.

“And I’ll keep potting up plants for the annual hostel fête for as long as I can.”