BULLETIN 18 OCTOBER 2019

President Warren - President elect position for 2020 /21 has been filled by Rhonda Wisbey

Dave W Birthday 22nd

Warwick – Nominations for the Board are open until the end of October

Sally  - Carrus Crystal Palace breakfast still has forty tickets available. Need 13 teapots and 13 coffee pots. Please read the bulletin for notices and updates.

Mary   - Please pay Warwick for the tickets

Barbara - Publicised Melbourne Cup fundraiser for basketball courts at Merrivale School

John – Treasured Art: roster doing the rounds for helpers, sales people, cashier assistant, drivers, data projectionist, raffle sellers

Also promoted Chrysalis art exhibition next Thursday

Les – Congratulations to Max Mason on completing his cycling fundraiser

Labour Weekend Mini car event barbeque staffed and well supported. Trying for national Mini record, if you have a Mini take it to the event Saturday morning, gold coin donation

Bob – Encouraged everyone to support the Arts Festival, which starts Thursday

Mary – Barry’s surgery went well and he will be home soon and welcomes visitors. Wait after knocking as he takes some time to answer the door.

Max – Thanks for fundraiser support, presented a Darwin Club banner to President Warren, Darwin Club gave sergeant’s session proceeds to the cause (AUD209)

Warren – Ten Pin Bowling ADC Challenge was great fun but we lost the trophy to the Tauranga Club

Speaker – Marie Bilodeau, bird photographer, allowed her subjects to speak for themselves with three AV presentations of collected bird photos. Marie prefers to photograph birds with character and her patience and skill with a camera gave us a wonderful insight into the life of our local bird species. A highlight was her capturing of the Turret Road bridge colony of White Fronted Terns, from eggs to adults and all stages in between. A talk which was 'just right' given the circumstances - even down to the music

Raffle was won by Barry Fredheim

 

Members of the Club, many of whom had become close friends of Stuart and Pamela were shocked to hear the sad news.

Stuart’s wife Pamela, fellow yacht club member Bruce Goodwin and Pamela’s brother-in-law Steve were also on board.

They survived the sinking, but suffered injuries, with Pamela being admitted into an intensive care unit. She is now out of intensive care and heading home.

Stuart has been a member of Tauranga Sunrise since November 2009. Since joining Rotary, he has been an influential member within the club, more recently being on the Community Service committee. Over the last couple of years, he has also been a very significant contributor to Treasured Art and had the knack of seeing what needed to be done and getting on with it.

As well as the work he did as a Rotary member of Tauranga Sunrise, Stuart also had a very keen interest in politics, running for the ACT Party in the 2014 and 2017 General Elections. However, his first passion was for sailing.  

Fellow Rotarians share their thoughts - Andrew Knowles says that Stuart was one of the leading members of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club and that about three years ago, Stuart put nearly $100,000 into a fund to help support the Bay of Plenty Sailing Academy Trust.

Andy Cameron has known Stuart since they went to school together and the two have been very close friends ever since.

“He and I were the only 12-year-olds that went to St Paul’s boarding school in Hamilton,” says Andy. “He was the youngest and I was the second youngest in the school.

“He was my very good friend from those days. I still do some yachting with him but not the Wednesday night events. Andy Went to school with Stuart, where Stuart shone as Dux of the school, and, when Stuart returned from globetrotting, sponsored him to join our Club. Stuart’s ability to create his own success and his entrepreneurial pathway through life, including his ocean travels, meant that he has no easily defined profession. Rotary required one and so, knowing Stuart’s recently acquired hobby, Andy designated him “Worm Farmer”.   

“It is still very surreal and an enormous shock,” says Lynda Burch. “Stu was an amazing person with impressive intellect. He was Dux of his high school and went on to apply his intellect to a very successful career in finance. He was also a very loving family man and had a very close family. Martin and I consider ourselves fortunate to have been close friends for many years with Stu, Pam, Sven and Theo. He will be missed hugely. Lynda updated us on Pam’s progress, she is home, still not fully recovered, and supported by family and friends. Lynda said that one practical form of support we can offer is to prepare meals for visitors and drop them off to her, in non- returnable containers. Lynda taught with Pam, who is a gifted teacher of mathematics and has known both Stuart and Pam throughout their time together. Lynda recalled Stuart teaching Pam to windsurf and then expanding that love of the ocean into taking her around the world, with small children in tow.  The Burch family among others, were nine-year guardians of the Pedersen’s furniture while they globe trotted, and in constant touch, following their adventures around the world. Lynda said that returning to Tauranga led to a blossoming of life and community involvement for them that created a wide circle of friends.

She also recalled Stuart’s role in a TV series on helping people in financial difficulties, and his joy in cutting up credit cards and helping people to pare down their commitments.

“Stuart was an amazingly caring and giving person, always had time to listen and was a lot of fun. Pam and Stuart went on the Japan trip with us in 2017…a great trip. I can’t imagine the loss Pam must be feeling. I will miss him a great deal,” says Ursula Hurn.

Simon and Michele Beaton also expressed their condolences and thoughts of Stuart.

“My enduring memory of Stuart will be his smile and always positive face,” says Simon. “I still laugh to this day, when as the local Act candidate here in Tauranga, I asked him one morning at Rotary, exactly what was ACT’s policy on the environment? Smiling, he replied that he ‘did not know, but did know they had one!’ I couldn’t stop teasing him about it. Next week at Rotary he got hold of me and proudly told me what the policy was (having done his homework). It is something that still makes me smile to this day.”

“My perception of Stuart is that he was positive, energetic, adventurous, clear-thinking, clear on his priorities in life and what he wanted to achieve for the community, the very opposite of ‘stuck in a rut. Actually, all this applies to both Stuart and Pamela,” says Michele.

Ron Fyfe says Stuart was a very strong Rotarian.

“He was happy to volunteer wherever he could. Sociable, helpful, strong minded and a genuinely nice man. He will be very sadly missed,” says Ron.

“He was a man of passions, for the game of bridge, for sailing and for art,” says Pauline Cowens. “Passions all shared by Pam, as she also shared his love of serving the wider community. He was kind, gentle, with a great sense of humour and always committed to helping others. He knew how to get the most out of life but should have had so much more time to do that”

Andrew Knowles  - Andrew’s son and Sven Pedersen windsurfed together and roomed together at St Paul’s Collegiate. Andrew commented that Stuart often drove the boys to and from school and thought his son learned more in the car from Stuart than from many other sources. Andrew also mentioned Stuart’s role in founding the BOP Sailing Academy, his generosity with time and with money in supporting the work of that organisation. He also reflected how much the yacht club is going to miss him.

Stephen Dorrington – Stephen reminded us that he sailed to Tonga with the Pedersens earlier this year, leaving on his birthday and being rewarded with a cake by Pam. Stephen also shared that the cake was with him only briefly as he succumbed to seasickness. His other memory of that voyage was of a migrating bird circling the boat, a long way from home and that he remained seasick for much of the voyage.

Club members were then invited to continue sharing about Stuart after the closure of the formal meeting at 8.00am    

 

President Warren reflected on how Stuart was such an active member in the Club and will be sadly missed. As fellow Rotarians we have Stuart’s wife Pamela, and their two children, Sven and Theo foremost in our thoughts at this sad time. Lynda’s parting thought was perfect