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Talk:Melville Lyons

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Obituary

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A descendant of Lyons has sent me a transcript of his obituary. I'll copy it here with all the spelling mistakes - just the way I received it:

Mr. M.E. Lyons Secretary of the canterbury A&P Assn collapsed at the Shirley golf course on Sat and died. For more than 20yrs he was prominent in local body affairs. national politics and administration of swimming, life saving and technical

education. Born in Wairarapa in 1889 Mr Lyons attended the Masterton School and Fielding District High School and took up farming in Hawkes Bay until 1910. He then entered journalism specialising in agriculture . In 1912 he was appointed editor of the Westport Times and on the establishment of the "Sun" in chch in 1914 he became it agricultural editor. After service in the 1st expeditionary Force he returned to this work. He was president of the Chch journalists Union for 5 years and was the 1st life member of the NZ Journalists Assn. Interest in swimming Swimming was a lifetime interest of Mr. Lyons and from 1926 to 1937 he was president of the Canterbury Centre if the NZ swimming Assn. He also became president of the Royal Lifesaving Society of NZ after many years teachimg swimming and life saving and as an administrator In 1928 Mr Lyons became secretary of the Canterbury Agricultural & Pastrol Assn. and its growth since then has been largely attributed to his influence. He took pride in knowing all members personally and paid some attention to exhibitors at annual shows. The Chch metropolitian show is probably the best organised in NZ and every sections of the huge undertaking came under Mr Lyons direct supervision. He wasSecretary of NZ Sheepbreeders Assn and of several breed societies and served on the council of the Royal Agricultural Society . Standing for parliament 1st in 1925 for the reform party Mr Lyons was declared elected on the casting vote of the returning officer but he never took his seat in the house representiatives as the election was upset by an electrol court on the petition of the late Mr. J. McCoombs who had held the Lyttleton seat. In 1934 he again contested the same seat in the bye elections after the death of Mrs. R.E. McCoombs and in 1939 he contested the Chch sth seat left vacant by the death of Mr. E.J. Howard. Though unsuccessful he reduced the labour party majority each time. In 1941 he was chosen by the National Party to contest Kaiapoi seat in 1942 for Chch east. Mr. Lyons was a member of Chch City Council for 20 years from 1927 He became acknowledge throughout the country as an expert in municipal affairs. For 6yrs he was deputy mayor up to the time of his withdrawal from local body politics and also served long terms as chairman of the councils finance and electricity committees. He was on the National Exexutive Committee of the municpal Assn electric supplies and power authoriities Assn. In 1947 Mr Lyons contested the mayoralty as an independent against Ernest Andrews. He assisted scores of people to find employment and was chairman of the (?) committee. Later he was intereested in many philanthropic and benevolent socities. At the time of his death Mr Lyons was chairman of ChCh Technical College, Board of Governors and had been prominient in the technical eduacation assn. He was also keen horticulturalist. He was amember of Civic Lodge of Freemasons Recognition of his wide public service Mr Lyons received the O.B.E. from the Queen at the investure held during the royal visit to Chch . He is survived by his wife

I asked where that obituary might come from, and the reply was: "I can remember mum going down to Chch for that funeral. Caught the ferry down on a weekend as I remember. A cousin wrote me out that obit. I would say it was in the Dominion or Evening Post."

I haven't worked any of its content into the article. I'd like to receive feedback from other editors as to whether this would be regarded as a reliable source. Schwede66 00:11, 2 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I am not of the opinion that obits are highly edited by the publishers. However, I also believe that there is probably spot fact checking. On a scale of 1–10 it might be a 5 or a 6. There are certain professional obits that are reliable. I think certain publications like The New York Times hire obituary writers. Other publications accept citizen submissions. In this case, since he says his cousin wrote the obit, it is pretty clear this is a citizen submission. It was probably spot checked, but not really under editorial review. I would hesitate to use details that can not be confirmed elsewhere. However, consider the likelihood that specific facts will be contested. WP:RS is really based on evaluating the stringency of the editorial review process by dedicated (generally professional) editors.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 02:24, 2 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
When the person told me that a "cousin wrote me out that obit", I understood this to mean that the cousin transcribed it from the newspaper. When you re-read the above, do you come to the same conclusion? If there is any remaining doubt, I can easily go back to my contact and ask for clarification. Schwede66 02:41, 2 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
At first, my interpretation was that at the time of death, the cousin submitted the text to the newspaper that was published. This is how many obituaries are published. Now, I concede it may have been transcribed from the secondary source. That does not tell us whether the obit was a citizen submission or an editorially reviewed publication.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 18:28, 2 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
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