Connie Johnson to be remembered at Melbourne service next weekend

Connie Johnson will be farewelled next weekend at a memorial service in Melbourne.

The sister of Gold Logie-winning actor Samuel Johnson died last Friday after a long battle with cancer.

Her family are now inviting the community who rallied around her, dubbed the Love Your Sister Village, to gather on Saturday to remember Connie “with stories and love”.

“It’s not a funeral, it’s not a celebration. It’s a time for the Love Your Sister Village to gather round and remember our Lady Cottonsocks, OAM, with stories and love,” the family wrote.

The service will be held at Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral at 4.15pm next Saturday September 23, according to a post on the Facebook page Love Your SisterLove Your Sister

Connie’s family announced her passing last week via a Facebook post on the Love Your Sister page, which has been providing regular updates on her condition during her ongoing illness.

Her brother posted a photo of striking black-and-white portrait of Connie, writing: "We lost Connie today. Or, as she asked me to say, she died of cancer today. It was so beautiful."

Connie battled cancer for most of her life, first being diagnosed with bone cancer at age 12 and then with uterine cancer at 22.

She was 33 when she discovered the cancer had returned again, this time in the form of both breast and liver cancer.

It was after the third diagnosis when she and brother Samuel Johnson formed the cancer charity Love Your Sister, pledging to devote the remainder of their lives raising money for cancer research.

The siblings have been working together closely ever since, raising almost $5 million.