Tony had a love of the great outdoors, and he and his family made the most of school holidays to enjoy camping trips all over New Zealand. Tony was an enthusiastic woodworker and attended many years of night classes as well as managing the Community Education Programme at Burnside High School for a time. In later years, Tony became interested in fly fishing, and although not an entirely successful fisherman in terms of numbers of fish actually caught, he thoroughly enjoyed the activity. Tony was an extremely enthusiastic watcher of sport, particularly rugby. He happily took his daughters to tests on the embankment at Lancaster Park from a very young age. He coached the Burnside High School 1st XV for a time and considered a 4-0 victory over Christ’s College in 1978 to be one of his great sporting achievements. He was not fussy about his rugby, and gained almost as much enjoyment from watching club rugby over at Burnside Park as he would at a test match. Tony retired from teaching in 2010 and enjoyed overseas travel, gardening, fishing and a spot of golf. Tony thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren, Meta and Anthony. Granddad was their favourite play companion.
Tony was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune condition Scleroderma, which causes an excess of collagen in the body and can cause scarring on internal organs. Unfortunately for Tony, in his case it affected his lungs. Tony passed away on 3 March 2017 aged 70. He is greatly missed by his wife Ann, daughters Mary and Rebecca, his sons-in-law, and his grandchildren, Meta and Anthony.
Chronicle 2017
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