The following is the tribute paid to their Father by his children Vicky and
Malcom.
As a young lad, in his early 20s, Dad used to take
the same route every day from the fruit and vege
markets back up to his father’s shop in Karori.
Along Aro Street was another fruit shop owned by
the Kan family. Dad used to drive past and wave
at a young girl – Mary Kan – or it may have been
Mum’s younger sisters who used to stop the truck
as school patrols so that Dad would have time to
stop and wave.
The Chinese community was relatively small in
those days and they got to know each other at
21sts and parties. I can’t remember hearing too
many stories about those days but I do remember
Dad saying that his father-in-law made him trim a
case of cabbage before he was allowed to take
Mum out on a date. He must have been OK at
trimming cabbages because he married Mum 3
years later in August 1964.
Dad was always organized and just prior to this he
bought his first family home in Parkvale Road in
Karori, ready for him and Mum to move in as soon
as they got married.
In the early days of his marriage he also enjoyed
marlin fishing in the Bay of Islands with his frien
ds
as well as a few rounds of golf. Unfortunately,
these pursuits became a lower priority once Dad
started his family.
As children we remember Dad to be very hard
working.
He often woke at 5.00am to go to the markets, and
didn’t close the shop until late in the evenings.
On
Sunday afternoon he would sit
in the lounge and
do his bookwork, and for the remainder of the
weekend manage the garden, trim the hedge and
help manage household affairs. Because of the
long hours, holidays were not a regular occurrence.
Dad’s hard work helped grow the business and
build a financial base for our family.
Whilst we were growing up we remember Dad
having a few treats for himself. He had a keen
interest in cars and he enjoyed driving. He had a
good relationship with Mercedes Benz in
Wellington and was probably one of
their better
customers.
On more than one occasion Mum would come
home and open the garage to find a brand new car
that Dad had brought for her.
He had a sweet tooth and an insatiable appetite for
chocolate fish, pineapple lumps and Buzz bars. It
becam
e quite a pastime for us kids to devour them
while he wasn’t there and in the end he had to hid
them from us ... but we always managed to find
them in his favourite hiding places ... under the bed
in his car, in his sock drawers.
One of Dad’s key goals was t
o provide us with a
good education and broad experience in life.
While he couldn’t physically be there during many
of our interests and pursuits because of the
demands of the business he made sure that as his
children we didn’t miss out. We all had the
opportunity to pursue sporting interests, music and
ballet for the girls.
I personally remember being one of the first kids i
n
my soccer team to get a new pair of Adidas soccer
boots, and the time in my first year of secondary
school at Wellington College when I made it to the
athletics finals. Dad claimed it was his Genes
from which I got my speed and then proceeded to
present me with some running spikes that he had
used 30 years before when he ran at the same
school finals. I remember accepting them
gracefully and running in them, but didn’t have the
heart to tell him that I thought they belonged in a
museum. It wasn’t long before I was brought a
new pair of running shoes.
When Vicky attended Massey university, Mum and
Dad would often drive her up and down to Massey,
shifting furniture and luggage, making sure she
was well settled, and when Kate got homesick
studying down at Otago University, Dad would
ensure she had all the emotional and financial
support that she needed.
All of Dad’s children traveled, lived and worked
overseas. Mum and Dad ensured they visited us
all on at least one occasion, seeing our
environment, where we lived and meeting our new
friends in the life we had made outside of New
Zealand. He encouraged us to pursue our own
and not his goals.
As we became older, and moved into working
careers Dad was still there. Even, if it was simp
ly
as a sounding board for important decisions.
He helped Vicky and Kate search out and
negotiate the purchase of their first homes,
spending hours on weekends at open homes.
Once we all moved our own respective houses,
Dad was often then lugging boxes, unpacking and
helping in the garden.
Despite the long hours of work and the limited time
for his own interests whilst we were growing up,
Dad seldom complained. He always worked hard
to support us in the family business.
In Dad’s final days before his passing, he never
complained once of his disease or the pain. He
was strong and was more concerned about the
effect his illness had on our family than his own
deteriorating condition and misfortune.
Dad sold the business in 1994 at the age of 55. I
think this was the first time that Dad had had any
media attention. I found 2 articles in the Wester
n
News and another in the Evening Post about how
closing of his shop was an end of an era, after
being part of the Karori community for over 36
years. A letter we received recently from the
Marsden Village Retailers said “many of his
customers have fond memories of shopping for
their produce and he provided some of the young
people from the locality to work in the shop and
taught them how to deal with people, work as a
member of a team, handle money and pack and
arrange fruit and produce”.
Whilst Dad had more time available after selling
the business he didn’t retire completely. He
always needed to keep busy and was enticed out
of retirement and worked part time for Chans,
Moore Wilsons and more recently Thorndon New
World.
With his spare time he continued with his
involvement with Rotary and also became active
with the Tung Jung Association and became a
volunteer bus driver for the Karori Community Bus
Service.
Over the last few years Dad started to play table
tennis and learnt how to use a computer. He went
to senior net classes and learnt how to email and
use the internet, which became very useful for his
work with the Tung Jung and emailing us with any
news he and Mum had.
He renewed his interest in golf and it was only 3
weeks ago that he was loving his new tailor-made
club, because despite his interesting swing he
could still hit the ball 230m.
In 2001 Dad’s first grandchild was born.
From this point onwards a significant amount of
Dad’s time was spent visiting, playing, talking and
exchanging emails and photos with the new
generation of “Chongs”.
Today he has 4 grandchildren Madison, Hugo,
Eliza and Natasha who love him dearly and
cherish the time they have spent with him.
Dad, we love you and miss you.
Thanks for everything you have given us. You
have been a wonderful father, Grandfather and
husband and will always be in our thoughts.
Peter is survived by his wife Mary, children Malcolm,
Vicky, Kate and Anthony & grandchildren.
Dear Granddad,
We have had lots of special times together. You h
ave been the best
Granddad. We played games together and had lots of
fun. Thank you
for teaching me to write my numbers in Chinese and
play card games
on the computer. Today it is very sad that you ha
ve to go. So now
goodbye. Lots of kisses and cuddles.
Love Madison, Hugo, Eliza and Tash.
www.tungjung.org.nz/images/stories/newsletters/2008/TJA_Newsletter_July_2008.pdf
