Sadly Tom Sawyer aged 83, passed away suddenly last week and will be sorely missed by his three sons Daniel, Jason and myself (Todd).
After leaving the Pakuranga Rotary Club to retire in Kinloch in 1998, Tom became a big part of his new local community. He regularly offered his time to actively help out with many community programmes and worker bee events including the refurbishment of the historic water wheel, improvements to the public golf course and the creation of the world renown Whakaipo Bay to Kinloch (W2K) walking and mountain bike track (see pictures attached).
He was looking forward to attending the recent 50 year anniversary of your club however failing heath prohibited his travel arrangements. I spoke to him before the event about what it meant to him and he said he enjoyed some the most productive times of his life with Rotary! He reminisced with a smile about the time he spotted a large mound of abandoned railway sleepers in a yard whilst traveling for work. Then for a minuscule sum of money he procured the lot and arranged for them to be transported by train to Auckland. Apparently these sold rapidly for $20 each, raising a substantial amount of funds for the Rotary Club.
Anyhow I could go on and on about his calm, kind and caring character but I just thought you might be able to include a little something in your next newsletter about this wonderful gentleman to mark his passing.
Warmest regards,
Todd Sawyer
(ex 19 Sarah Place neighbour, now living in the UK)
After leaving the Pakuranga Rotary Club to retire in Kinloch in 1998, Tom became a big part of his new local community. He regularly offered his time to actively help out with many community programmes and worker bee events including the refurbishment of the historic water wheel, improvements to the public golf course and the creation of the world renown Whakaipo Bay to Kinloch (W2K) walking and mountain bike track (see pictures attached).
He was looking forward to attending the recent 50 year anniversary of your club however failing heath prohibited his travel arrangements. I spoke to him before the event about what it meant to him and he said he enjoyed some the most productive times of his life with Rotary! He reminisced with a smile about the time he spotted a large mound of abandoned railway sleepers in a yard whilst traveling for work. Then for a minuscule sum of money he procured the lot and arranged for them to be transported by train to Auckland. Apparently these sold rapidly for $20 each, raising a substantial amount of funds for the Rotary Club.
Anyhow I could go on and on about his calm, kind and caring character but I just thought you might be able to include a little something in your next newsletter about this wonderful gentleman to mark his passing.
Warmest regards,
Todd Sawyer
(ex 19 Sarah Place neighbour, now living in the UK)