Vale – Colin Copestake

4 April 1927 – 24 October 2024

The Warkworth of Colin Copestake’s youth was one where kids learned to swim in the river and many of them hand-milked cows before they went to school. Bylaws were set by the Town Council, a trip to Auckland city involved driving to the North Shore and catching a ferry, and cars were an uncommon sight on local roads.

Born and raised in the town, Colin wasn’t a man defined by grand achievements, but rather someone who found meaning in simple acts that filled his days – his dedication to family and friends, a long career with the Post & Telegraph Company, and a love of gardening, fishing, boating, rugby and bowls.

And, in his twilight years, needlepoint.

Colin grew up on a dairy farm in Pulham Road, one of eight children. His father George was from Stoke-on-Trent, in England, while his mother Isabel was born a Came at Matakana in 1900. The farm is long gone, now covered in houses.

He attended Warkworth School when it was opposite the current doctor’s rooms in Alnwick Street and learned to swim in the dam, below the Bridgehouse, where there used to be a diving board and two large changing sheds. Just prior to leaving school, around 1941, he and his brother Noel, along with a group of about 10, swam from the Bridgehouse to the Cement Works. Colin and his brothers often sat around the kitchen during summer with no shirts on, which was said to annoy their mother who asked the boys to properly clothe themselves when they were at the table – to no effect. Then one day she disappeared and came out in her bra and pants. This indeed had the desired effect and henceforth, the Copestake boys always wore shirts at the table.

Initially working on the family farm after leaving school, Colin then got a job on a tug boat in Auckland.

The boat worked for the Navy and was involved in building a submarine boom defence across the entrance to Auckland Harbour. However, he soon decided life on the tugs was not for him, and returned to Warkworth to work at the dairy factory, then located in Wharf Street, where the Riverview Plaza now stands. In 1946, aged 19, he joined the Army and was posted to Japan with the Jayforce, which occupied Japan following World War II. He was stationed in Mazuba, in the Yamaguchi Prefecture, near Hiroshima. This was about a year after the bomb had been dropped and he recalled a horrific landscape where no one dared drink the water. His duties included escorting Koreans who were being repatriated, guard duty around the camps and for one month-long stint in Tokyo, he was a guard on various embassies, radio stations and the Emperor’s Palace. Colin and wife Thelma visited Japan in later years as part of a Jayforce reunion.

By 1951, Colin was back in Warkworth and working for the Post & Telegraph (P&T) as a linesman, a job he retained for the next 39 years. He married Thelma Trotter, of Matakana, in 1955 and they had three children – Raewyn, Brian and David. His job with the P&T took him all over the Mahurangi district initially, and then later this expanded to include Auckland city and the North Shore. When he was made redundant at age 62, he took his payout and bought a new boat. Boating was a big part of the family’s life together with many weekends spent in Kawau Bay, and Colin was still fishing with his son well into his 80s.

Colin was a keen gardener with a big vegetable patch, especially at the property on Matakana Road. His shelter for the strawberries, predominantly made out of old telegraph poles, was remembered as being an impressive structure. He grew beans, peas, huge watermelons and potatoes by the bucket-load.

There were also fruit trees and a sprawling grapevine.

Colin and Thelma were remembered as being good dancers especially when the Puhoi Old Time Band fired up, and were involved in the road runners club for many years, as well as keen bowlers in their retirement.

Colin passed away in his 98th year and was farewelled at a service at Besoul Funeral Home on November 2.