The Very Revd John Oliver Rymer,
M.A., L.Th., QSO
1924 - 2003
Dean of Auckland 1970 - 1991
Dean Emeritus.
 Born in Australia in 1924, John Rymer was ordained Deacon
in 1946 and Priest in 1948.
He was educated at the University of Queensland, gaining his BA in
1947, and continued to study during the following years of his priesthood,
attaining an LTh (ACT) in 1950, MA (Queensland) in 1952, Th. Schol (ACT) in 1959
and an MA at London University in 1962.
His vocational appointments began in Brisbane in 1946, when he was
appointed Chaplain Assistant at the Church of England Grammar School in Brisbane.
In 1948 he became Curate Assistant at St Peter's Cathedral,
Armidale, NSW, and two years later became Curate Assistant at St Paul's Cathedral,
Rockhampton. From 1951 to 1954 he was also Vicar of Biloela, a town in central
Queensland.
Appointment as Chaplain to the New England Girls' School,
Armidale, and Chaplain to the University of New England followed until 1965,
during which time (1959 - 1962) he gained overseas experience in North Wembley,
London, as Curate Assistant at St Cuthbert's Church.
Dean Rymer moved to New Zealand in 1965, following appointment as
Principal of Christchurch College, and becoming a Canon of Christchurch Cathedral
until 1970, when he became Dean of Auckland, a position he held until his
retirement in 1991. He was Diocesan Vicar-General from 1976-78 and the Commissary
of the Archbishop in 1979.
On retirement, Dean Rymer was made Dean Emeritus.
He retained his involvement in Cathedral activities as Director of
the Auckland Cathedral Completion Project, to which he devoted vast amounts of
energy. His efforts saw building recommence and continue through the building of
the Nave which we now have.
In 1994 Dean Rymer was made a Sub- Prelate of the Order of St
John, and he was awarded a QSO for his services in 1995.
He and his wife Joyce retired in Auckland, where he remained busy
as an Officiating Priest, and playing golf with his many friends for the remainder
of his life.
He died on 7th April 2003.
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