Leading from the front issuu

WHEN A RELATIONSHIP
TOUCHES LOVE IT IS ETERNAL
by granddaughter jerri magill
My first recollection of meeting you, Pat, took place at
our long-time family home at Whakarire Avenue in Westshore.
I must have been around 8 months old as I’d just
started to crawl and crawl is exactly what I did, into your
bedroom early one morning.
I can remember creating havoc with a pile of your papers
on the floor beside the bed. Waking to the noise, I
can still see you looking over at me and giving an endearing
smile and a wink. This was our defining moment, a
moment that bonded us forever.
Through all of life’s experiences I have shared with you,
I take pride in adopting and aspiring to some of your core
values, those of compassion, wisdom and unconditional
love for absolutely everybody. (I have taken on some of
your more questionable traits too, like bad driving, general
disorganisation and sometimes, absent table manners,
but these are all minor details in life’s big scheme!)
I feel blessed to share a biological link with you, for as
long as we live in this world. I’m relieved and delighted
too that we are connected in eternity, because a relationship
that touches love is eternal.
Twenty three years on from that early morning encounter,
I have come to understand and embrace the causes
you have dedicated your life to; causes that are all unified
by the common theme of being one; YMCA, Te Araroa
Offers Hope, your trailblazing conservation work on our
family land at Puketitiri, and Napier’s Pilot City Trust, to
name just a few.
You have and continue to enrich my life and I’m forever
grateful for having been loved by you, Pat, my darling
grandfather.
Arohanui, nga mihi nui … forever yours.
Five of these photos were taken at Puketitiri; Top middle: at a book signing with Hone Tuwhare, Pat, Jes and Jerri at the Napier Public
Library; out and about with Pat; at Jerri’s long time friend and mentor, Kerry Kitione’s, with chauffeur Pat.
A big presence in our lives 249