Lorne Victoria Australia

The Reverend James Lawrence Reeve (1928-2013) was the Vicar at All Saints Lorne (1954-58)

The Son of the Reverend William Thomas Reeve (1889-1948), Vicar of St John the Baptist Goulburn St Hobart and Senior Anglican Military Chaplain in Tasmania during WWII.

Lawrence attended Trinity Grammar School Kew and Trinity College, University of Melbourne (BA), Aust College of Theology (ThL), ordained as a priest 1953.

He was Curate at St James Ivanhoe in Melbourne before becoming Vicar at Lorne. He also took regular services at Airey’s Inlet. He was introduced to his future wife Roma Herm, a Charge Sister at Royal Melbourne Hospital, when she and her friend Betty Manning visited a friend in Lorne during the winter of 1954 and the Vicar was also invited for dinner.

They were married in Trinity College Chapel the following year. Roma was warmly welcomed by the parish and township of Lorne, including by the local doctor who was able to play golf on Wed afternoons while leaving his emergency bag with Roma.

Son John Reeve was born in 1956. The Alsop family were particular friends. Bert was a local builder and leading figure in the town and Beryl cared for John during the early months of his life when Roma was ill.

Lawrence and Roma enjoyed the busy summer months and the visitors to Lorne, as well as the quiet beauty of the town in winter. During one summer there was a bad bushfire scare when the fire came down the Dean’s Marsh Road. Lawrence and Roma had only a few minutes to evacuate. He packed his robes and documents and she packed John and a box of baby food before driving to safety. Lawrence and family moved to Bacchus Marsh when he became Vicar of Holy Trinity in 1958.

Source:

• John Reeve, July 2026