19 June 2026
Lives often go undocumented, with remarkable stories never told. So, a free service offered by Harbour Hospice – writing patients’ life stories – is one that Devonport local Lynnette Hurley feels fortunate to be a part of.
Hurley, who previously worked as a copywriter, is part of a team of volunteers who write hospice patients’ life stories. This month she’ll be recognised for 10 years’ service at Hospice’s Long Service Awards, although she says the honour is all hers.
People think that they’re ordinary, but nobody’s ever ordinary,” she says. “When recording, I’ll say, ‘Let’s start with something stand-out. And they’ll say something that really takes you by surprise like, ‘Oh, well, there was the time I met the Queen’.
“Even when they don’t have a story about meeting royalty, they’ll have something, because everybody has a story and their own way of looking at the world and their own way of living.”
Life stories are recorded over six one-hour sessions and written “as you go”. In 10 years, Hurley has recorded the life stories of many, including three who attended the Queen’s coronation in 1953. “And they each had a slightly different experience, so I have a real image in my mind of this event that’s much more than you’d see on film.”
One of her most moving experiences was seeing a family reconnect. “The person who was unwell was really quite low, and when we started putting together her story her family would come in and read it as it was going along. They’d say, ‘We didn’t know this’, and then they’d sit and talk with her, and have long chats about all these things. There was a lot of lightness around that. It opened the way for the family to talk about all these wonderful things.”
Hurley has written the stories of people who’ve sailed around the world, contributed a huge amount to their community or been proud of their children. “One of the loveliest ones I wrote was a cookbook, and it was for someone who didn’t want to write about their life, but loved cooking. So, we put together some recipes and then with each recipe we included a message about the person who gave them the recipe, or who they cooked it for, and that was just lovely.
“You often walk around in your daily life, making assumptions about people based on what you see. But when you talk to them and find out all kinds of things that make them who they are today, it’s absolutely fascinating. So it’s a real privilege to do these stories.”
Before Hurley starts each one, she asks, ‘who is the story for?’, and she makes sure patients understand they can edit their words if they change their mind about something they’ve revealed.
A life story doesn’t have to start at the beginning, Hurley says, and it doesn’t have to cover an entire lifetime.
“For me this is my way of caring for people, because I think everybody who works for or volunteers for hospice is a caring person. Writing these stories is a way of doing something for people that often they thought they’d get round to, but never did. Or that they hadn’t thought about doing, but they have something to say.
“I walk in as a stranger and get to share in the most important stories there are.”
Harbour Hospice cares for people in the Hibiscus Coast, North Shore, and Warkworth/ Wellsford communities who are dying. Its palliative care services are free, thanks to the support of its community. To find out about volunteering, email volunteer@harbourhospice.org.nz
This story was first published in the 19 June 2026 issue of The Devonport Flagstaff.
