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Obituaries Des Hendren - Joe Hendren Des Hendren, who died in December 2003, aged 63, had been a
CAFCA member for a couple of years. His death was
particularly tragic – undetected irregular heartbeat led him to
collapse and die at the wheel of his car whilst driving home on a busy Des Hendren
was born in Fairlie, in 1940. His father was a
train driver, so before Des had started school the family had transferred
twice, to Greymouth, then Ashburton.
Dad had a lifelong interest in trains, and enjoyed travelling
by train whenever he could. Dad could be a difficult one to buy for at
Christmas. When really stuck, it often came to "how about something to
do with trains". Another option was always a book of some kind.
Sometimes it was even a book about trains. After leaving school Des
worked for a short time in a bank, before deciding that it was not for him
and moved to Following the completion
of a postgraduate Counselling course in 1980, Des
moved from teaching to a new career in Vocational Guidance. This work can be
best described as helping people clarify and make decisions about their
pathways in life, specifically concentrating on the work aspect. But as it
aims to look at work/occupations in the context of life as a whole, those who
work in vocational guidance are also trained in general counselling
skills. One of his colleagues pointed out that through this work Des would
have had an influence on the lives of a huge number of people. Following retirement in
2000, Des designed and marketed a "subject choice guide" to schools
to help students find out what subjects might interest them most. And up to
the time of his death Des was also working part time as a Careers Advisor at
the Retirement also gave him
more time to devote to playing golf, watching cricket and reading widely. Des
liked to be well informed. He would wake up each day to National Radio,
before undertaking a "concentrated study of the Press"
during breakfast. Dad told me once that when he was young he used to race out
to the front gate and try to nab the Press before his father could get
to it. Of course, as soon I had heard this story, I felt completely justified
in doing the same. I remember many a negotiation on a Saturday morning,
concerning who was going to see the prized front news section, and who would
be left reading the provincial sports results and the classifieds. The PSA & The Labour
Party: With Friends Like These… Des strongly believed in
a public service that served the public. Colleagues that worked with Des
spoke of his high level of professionalism. I believe these principles guided
Des' dismay at the "restructuring" of the public service from the
mid-1980s, and his dismay of the readiness of the Public Service Association
(PSA) to advocate the interests of management (suggesting workers give away
conditions, etc.). Des, working with other workers, was able to save some of
these conditions from management and the PSA. I can remember many a dinner
table conversation of these issues as Dad's job was "restructured"
several times, with his job future often uncertain. The service known as
"Vocational Guidance" (VG) was disestablished by the Labour government in 1988. Des, with a number of his
colleagues then moved to Career Education Services (CES), an organisation that worked with schools to provide an
advisory role on careers-related issues. After 18 months CES was also
disestablished and incorporated into another new organisation,
Quest Rapuara, in 1990, which staff hoped would
have a similar role to the old VG. Six months later the new National
government cut the budget and introduced a requirement on the organisation to raise "revenue" through private
clients such as the ACC, in line with user pays principles. The organisation is now called Career Services. Des cared a
great deal about his work and felt that these changes would not allow him to
do his job to the best of his ability. Despite some misgivings
with the actions of the PSA Des remained a member and acted as a PSA delegate
on the local As a good union man
Des’ father was a very loyal supporter of the Labour
Party. Recalling his childhood, Dad could still remember feeling as a nine
year old that the end of the world had arrived when the National Party won
the 1949 election. Des was a member of Labour in
the Norm Kirk days (i.e. the 1970s. Ed.). There is a famous story of
Des at an election night party celebrating Labour’s
win in 1972 (when Kirk became Prime Minister. Ed.). Des did a mock ballet dance
dressed in a blonde wig and an orange Led Zeppelin T-shirt. One woman laughed
so much she wet her pants! (the T-shirt was a given
to Des by a flatmate on account that he did not
like Led Zeppelin). When I was also around
nine years old, I remember asking Dad why he was so appalled at the actions
of the fourth Labour government. Dad gave
explanations of the stark differences between what the Labour
Party was doing and what it ought to stand for. This was a key moment where
most of my views on life and politics were formed. We became a New Labour Party-supporting household pretty much as soon as
it started. My parents became more involved in the Alliance after I went to
Wellington in 2001, and campaigned for the Alliance during the 2002 election
campaign (when the party split and disappeared from Government, and
Parliament, at that year’s election. Ed.). Following Jim Anderton’s decision to leave the I know Dad really enjoyed reading Watchdog and he happily shared it with friends he thought might be interested in joining CAFCA. Dad strongly believed that people mattered more than things. I will always remember and admire my father for his strong social conscience, his sense of justice and his example of basing arguments on knowledge and principle.
Ken Corliss - Paul Corliss I know from my own
recent experience (of writing a Watchdog obituary for my sister) just how emotionally
draining it would have been for Ken’s younger brother, Paul, to have to
write this, only a matter of weeks after Ken’s death. Doubly so,
because those two were inseparable and were truly partners in crime (in the
nicest possible way, of course). The Notorious Corliss
Brothers were the only people who could get away with calling me "Muz". Over the course of more than 30 years, I have
had many adventures with Paul, working together at the Railways for many
years, being involved in the union together, CAFCA, political activism, even
being arrested in a pub together (but that’s another story). And for
nearly as long, Ken was a mate. From 1982-97, he was a CAFCA member and a
very discerning reader of Watchdog. I will always remember
Ken, with glass in hand, the life and soul of every party he graced with his
presence, including many at our place. I knew that he was assailed by doubts
and anxieties, but he always put all that to one side when he was with
people. He was the most wonderful raconteur, and I vividly remember stories
such as how he got arrested for disorderly behaviour
in the main street of Papatoetoe. His crime?
Performing a public demonstration of the unique windmill playing style of The Who’s lead guitarist, Pete Townsend. Well, this
was And I knew Ken as a
cricketer (strictly social in my case). For decades, he was a stalwart of the
Heathcote Cricket Club, where his highly memorable
funeral was held. I was delighted to learn that in his last ever game, he won
it for Heathcote with two wickets with the last two
balls of his spell (and, amazingly enough, both batsmen were caught by Paul),
so that he is sitting on a hat trick for eternity. The official club
spokesman at his funeral had me in raptures as virtually his entire eulogy
consisted of cricket statistics, which would have been incomprehensible to a
fair proportion of those present. It reminded me of my own boyhood when I
drove my father mad by memorising whole books of
cricket statistics and following him around spouting them at him. Ken was a
driving force in the regular Communists versus Terrorists cricket matches
that were played in the early 80s at Heathcote
Domain and various other picturesque picnic spots that we descended on by the
busload (CAFCA’s very own Bill Rosenberg used
to be one of our bus drivers, as he did that for a living in a previous
life). I fancied myself as a dashing batsman but the scoreboard kept
reminding me otherwise; I didn’t do too badly as a demon fast bowler.
Those were the last cricket matches I ever played and they were enormous fun
(very much of the hit one, drink one variety). 2003 was a shit of a
year for Ken. He struggled with a bout of depression; he was made redundant
from the job he’d worked at for more than 20 years; then, to cap it all
off, he was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer, which proceeded to kill him
within very few months. The Corliss family has had
more than its fair share of tragedy – both their father and a brother
died in their 30s, from heart problems. His funeral (which was attended by
hundreds, including two Cabinet Ministers and the head of the Council of
Trade Unions) and the posthumous launch of the last of his highly quirky
books gave his family and friends the opportunity to celebrate his rich and
hilarious life, one cruelly cut short at 54. Paul wants to stress
that the following is basically just notes (his eulogy at Ken’s funeral
lasted nearly an hour) and that, because of the emotional strain – Ken
only died in February – and our deadline, he couldn’t provide a
fully rounded tribute to his brother. But they are exceedingly well written
notes that provide a fascinating insight into Ken and his picaresque life.
Thanks mate. And wherever you are, Ken, have one for me. All right then, make it two. Writer, Fisherman,
Father, Comic King, Drinker Kenneth David Corliss was born in 1949, in Ken moved to As an author he started
as a nine year old with Amazon Adventure, which won a newspaper essay
competition, and five years later took first place in the Auckland Secondary
School High Jump competition, an event he recorded as an Olympic epic of
supreme proportions. He contributed to many feature articles for national
fishing magazines, including New Zealand Fisherman and Southern
Fishing; his first (as yet unpublished) joint book on rock hunting titled
"Two Go Rocking"; the satirical and crazy lampoon "Five Turn
Out For Heathcote", with the glorious sequel
"Hellfire And Heathcote"; co-wrote and
co-edited the scandalous post ‘81 Springbok Tour newspaper Burst
Boil, which narrowly avoided several high profile New Zealand identities
suing for defamation; a series of short stories published as "Fish
on the Wall"; a limited edition spoof booklet titled "To The End Of
The Rainbow With A Glum Mr Gray"; contributed
a chapter titled "The Opihi" in a
national anthology of fishing stories edited by Owen Marshall, where he was
printed alongside such greats as James K Baxter and Keri Hulme;
co-authored "75 Years of Cricket in the Heathcote
Valley", which was published in 2003; and his last book, finished
just weeks before he died, arriving from the printers a few days after his
death, his final tribute to friends and angling, titled "The Grouse, the
Dun, and I". Ken was a man who went
shopping with Bette (Paul’s wife. Ed.) to
choose his own coffin a week or so before he died. Ken’s celebration,
while a little different to the norm, was most befitting of his character and
as fitting a tribute as all could make it. The humour,
sorrow and genuine esteem in which Ken was, and is, held was
most appropriate. Setting a 75-year Heathcote
Cricket Club record for bar takings also seemed a little bit special. There
were reportedly no arrests. Sometime glass-eyed
madman, sometime lover. Sometimes the greatest comic king I knew. Sometimes a
sharp-eyed pirate angling in fresh and salt; a hunter of the Earth’s
crystals and gems; a frustrating self-deprecating man who hid his social
phobia in crowds and laughter and joyous reminiscence. Who cried often alone
but who came into his own with a strength and drive
that left us all in awe. A man who refused to leave this Earth without giving
death a merry chase, he went screaming at the dying of the light and casting
one-liners in his wake like fishing lures to attract the foolish. The final and most
delicious irony for a man who ensured he got the last drop of the last bottle
was fittingly delivered when Bernard (the doctor. Ed.) was filing
Ken’s death certificate following the formula of 1st 3 letters of the surname Kenneth David Corliss produced C-O-R-K-E-D – CORKED. And he was,
at last but it took death to do it. "The Grouse, The
Dun And I" was posthumously launched, in March 2004. Copies of this
limited and numbered edition book are still available for $25, from Purple
Grouse Press, 38 Belleview Terrace, Briar Campbell-Maaroufi - Anne Fitzsimon Briar Maaroufi (as she was known to us) was a member of CAFCA
for a couple of years prior to her death. She was also a member of the
Anti-Bases Campaign and had attended Waihopai spybase protests. We only found out about her death
several months after the event and knew next to nothing about her life. We
are indebted to Anne Fitzsimon, of the Nelson Peace
Group, for this obituary. Ed. A campaigner for peace
and justice, Briar Margaret Campbell-Maaroufi died
in September 2003, from cancer, on her 60th birthday. Several
Nelson community groups benefited from her drive and organisational
skills, including the Nelson Multi Ethnic Council, Women in Nelson, the Angel
Loan Trust, the Nelson Aged Trust, the Association of Non-Government Organisations of Aotearoa (ANGOA) and the Nelson
Community Whanau, as well as the Nelson Peace
Group. National and international groups also benefited from Briar’s
energy and she highlighted the current injustices in A tenacious campaigner,
Ms Campbell-Maaroufi had the ability to recognise a community need, such as in her support to
establish a programme for the unemployed to learn
to drive. Despite failing health she was a force behind the proposed Victory
Community Health Centre to improve access to health services for low income
people, and in February 2000 organised a public
meeting to raise support for the centre. "It was sort of the start of
the community starting to feel good about itself,’
said fellow coordinator Leanne Curtis. Although frustrated at the centre’s lack of progress Ms Campbell-Maaroufi was still leading and advising even from her
hospital bed. "She never lost the energy for it." Born in Te Kopuru, near Dargaville, in
1943 her family moved to Stoke, in Nelson, and she became a foundation pupil
at International travel
brought her into contact with Amnesty International and the peace movement,
and worked for the aims of those organisations all
her life. "She was interested in overcoming instances of injustice and
unfairness and she was willing to work the political system in order to
achieve results," said her sister Helen Campbell. Briar’s energy,
enthusiasm and encouragement will be sorely missed by the members of Nelson
Peace Group. She organised the production of a
Peace Mural with Golden Bay artist, Chris Findlayson
and local schools, which is now located on Tahunanui
Drive, Tahunanui, Nelson as a constant reminder of
our nuclear free status in New Zealand. Yann Fleming - Yann Fleming was a CAFCA member a
number of years ago and donated more than once to the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account, which provides my income. It was only
several months after the event, courtesy of a third party, that we discovered
that he had died. As is the case with too many of our members and former
members, we knew nothing about him. I am indebted to his daughter, Monique,
for filling us in on her father’s life. She sent us the programme for his August 2003 funeral, which included a
biographical article on him that was published in Rangiora’s
Northern Outlook newspaper, early in 2002. Yann was born in Like the vast majority of
men of his generation, his life was brutally interrupted by World War 2. In
1940 he joined the infantry in the British Army, being posted first to North
Africa and then After the war, Yann worked on a dairy farm. In 1952 he joined the great Pommy assisted migration to In 1970 the family moved
to It was during his
retirement, after a life of decades of hard labour
on farms in both CAFCA extends our
condolences to his family. Death in the family: Jack Bullock - CAFCA has no more loyal
member than Lance Bullock, of Northland. We express our condolences to
him and his family for the death of his father, Jack, who died, in
February 2004, in an John Edward Bullock was
born in 1921. For most of his working life he worked with earthmoving
machinery. A knee smashed in an accident meant that he couldn’t join
the military in World War 2 but he served in the Home Guard. A couple of
currently familiar names featured in his long life – he worked
extracting honey with the father of Sir Edmund Hillary, and his 1949 wedding,
in Wanganui, was performed by the Reverend Alan
Brash, the father of Don (we won’t hold that against him). I met Jack Bullock once,
when Lance brought his old man round to visit me during a family trip to Non-Members:
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