Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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parents’ attitude to their children’s schooling seems to have been quite casual. She
ascribes this to neither of her parents having had much schooling themselves, her father
because of the Depression, and her mother because of the war interrupting her studies.
Her mother’s response to her success in the School Certificate examination, for
example, was less than enthusiastic. “When I got a very high mark for School C and
informed my mother that other people had been promised $100 or whatever if they
passed […], she went out and bought me a coconut”. She felt her parents’ suspicion of
academics was responsible for their encouraging her to become a secretary rather than
go to university after she left school, but after her teachers talked to her parents and
persuaded them that Ingrid did have the ability to do better than being a secretary, she
was allowed to attend university. 241
Despite their parents’ suspicions, all four children attended university, although at the
time it was still an uncommon thing to do. Vincent studied Fine Arts, the two sisters
graduated with Arts degrees, and Vincent’s older brother Paddy, who is now a farmer,
gained a diploma in agriculture from Massey University. Marianne feels that her
parents “never really tried to push us in any direction […]. They were very practical
when it came to money, very pragmatic and they wanted us to be able to earn a living
[…]. There was never any pressure. They just tried to help us. But Dad insisted that
we learn typing […] and tried to push us to be good at sports”. 242
Another aspect of Pat’s interest in language was his passion for giving eulogies,
particularly for members of the RSA. Marianne recounts that the family did a “gravecrawl”
for her father’s eightieth birthday, where they went from Greytown to
Martinborough, stopping at the graves of various family members. (In Vigil, Vincent
cast his father appropriately as one of the mourners at Toss’s father’s funeral.)
Ironically, Pat died at the age of eighty-four, just after he and Judy had been watching a
television programme on funerals. He was, according to Marianne, very good at public
speaking and a great storyteller. 243 Many of the stories he told were about the War,
which Ingrid describes as being probably “the strongest experience of his life”. She
also remembers him as being “a great letter-writer. He used to write letters to
government departments, particularly Social Welfare, advocating on behalf of people”.
241 Lynette Read, interview with Ingrid Ward, 15 April 1999.
242 Lynette Read, interview with Marianne Chandler, 1 October 1999.
243 Lynette Read, interview with Marianne Chandler, 1 October 1999.