Volunteer Spotlight--Lynda Cameron

Peteetneet Volunteer Spotlight
    Lynda Cameron

    If you visit the museum any Wednesday morning, you will be greeted by Lynda Cameron, a beautiful lady with an Australian accent.  She was born in Marrickville – an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia. 
    She has three sisters: Yvette lives in England, Kristina lives in Brisbane, and Elena lives in Adelaide.  Her Dad now lives in Victoria near the New South Wales border with his second wife.  Lynda’s mum died of early onset Alzheimer disease (duration of 16 years)  in 1999.  He spends much of his time every day working on family history.
    Australia was originally settled by convicts that were sent there by the English government.  Perhaps it may be of interest to know that her convict forebears were convicted of such ‘petty crimes' as picking up a handkerchief that belonged to someone else, borrowing/stealing the boss' horse or stealing a petticoat/underskirt while working as a laundress. More than 200 years later life has certainly changed!
    Lynda said some of her earliest memories included an apartment on the second floor above a butcher’s shop on Parramatta Road – the main artery between Sydney and Parramatta – the second largest city located near Sydney. (A city needs to have 100,000 people before being called a city in Australia).
    Her Father painted a large yellow circle on the floor of the front room for her sister and her to skip around and play inside.  The center light in the butcher’s shop was under the center of the circle painted on the floor of the upstairs apartment.
    She attended Crystal Street Infants School to second grade.  It was demolished many years ago and a huge technical college was built on the site.
    Her Father was an electrical engineer and the first home her parents built was in Oatley, a suburb about 30 miles south of Sydney. It was featured in the equivalent of Better Homes and Gardens for all of the innovative electrical features they included.
    One of my Fathers’ crowning achievements was the famous Sydney Opera House.  Her father’s  grandfather had worked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
    On her Mother’s side, she has seven convicts sentenced to seven years transportation and hard labor in Australia.  They came from England and Ireland. A great-grandfather, the son of Irish immigrants,  was one of the first altar boys in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.
    Oatley is on the Georges River which flows into Botany Bay, the first landing site of the First Fleet. The First Fleet moved onto Sydney Harbour. When she married, she moved to live on the Lane Cove River which flows into Sydney Harbour, via the Parramatta River. She  lived on the water her whole life before moving here to the mountains!  
    She attended Oatley Public School, Penshurst Girls High School, Balmain Teachers College (now the University of Technology in Sydney) and the University of New England.  She taught school – kindergarten, a full grade – for two years before having children.
    She married Anton (Tom) Bakker and they were the parents of two beautiful girls and two handsome sons – all amazing children. She and Tom divorced in 1995 and she began dating Chris Cameron soon after. Chris’ sister was her best friend in school.
    She was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints while in school and was baptized four years later. Chris was baptized into the Church in 1992.
    They  eloped and were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple sealing room at the top of the stairs at the back of the Celestial Room  in 1996.
    Her older son, Ben, came over to BYU where he met and married a beautiful girl from Spanish Fork.  They live in Spanish Fork with their four handsome sons.
    David, the younger son, met and married a beautiful girl from Payson and they live in Payson with their two gorgeous girls and two very cute young sons.
    Lynda and Chris  moved to the US in February 1998 to be near family.  They moved to Payson because it is near to Spanish Fork but a little quieter and they are closer to Chris’ beloved mountains.
  Lynda was invited to become a volunteer at Peteetneet by her Visiting Teaching companion, Delowa Haskell.  She has now been a volunteer for about four years at the museum.
    Her  hobbies include sewing, quilting, knitting, hand sewing, reading, family history and gardening.
Lynda has been a great volunteer at the museum.  Come in and meet her and take a tour.  It will be a great experience.