‘Always a country boy at heart’
ONE of Upper Clutha’s ‘‘originals’’, Ralph MacCauley Templeton, was associated all his life with the Templeton and Sons Engineering Workshop on the south bank of the Clutha River at Albert Town.
His family first came to the Upper Clutha in the 1880s and have played an important part in development of the district.
Ralph’s grandfather James operated the punt at Albert Town for a period prior to the completion of the onelane bridge in 1930, and also began the blacksmith business there.
Ralph’s father Charles took over the business after serving overseas during World War 1, and Ralph himself, in partnership with his brother David, became a partner in 1954.
Ralph was born in Cromwell on December 14, 1930, the youngest of five children, and died on April 24, aged 87.
He went to primary school at Albert Town, which had its own pony paddock for those who rode to school, and at which pupils learned to swim in the Hawea River.
One of Ralph’s jobs before and after school was to find and milk the cows.
He also kept ferrets and hunted rabbits for their skins.
Attending Otago Boys’ High School required a trip to the rail head at Cromwell with McLeods Transport, and then a train trip to Dunedin.
After leaving school, he began an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner at the Hillside Engineering Workshops in Dunedin, before returning to Upper Clutha.
‘‘He was always a country boy at heart,’’ his widow Ethel Templeton (nee Mawhinney) said.
The two met in Dunedin — Ralph a member of the Burns Pipe Band and Ethel a member of the Wakari Marching Team — and married at the Wakari Presbyterian Church on March 27, 1954.
Earlier the same year, Ralph was in the band that played for Queen Elizabeth II at Carisbrook on her visit to Dunedin, and he also travelled to competitions throughout New Zealand.
In later years, despite being asthmatic, he would bring out the pipes to play for his three children — Robin, Jude and Garry.
When David went farming at Tarras in 1964, Ralph and Ethel took over the business and continued until 1996 when they retired.
Their son Garry still operates the business.
Ralph enjoyed fishing and the family had a hut and a boat on Hunter Valley Station at the end of Lake Hawea.
He also played lawn and indoor bowls and was a life member of the Wanaka Golf Club — holding an eighthandicap at one stage.
He was part of a group that formed the Winter Sports
Club, responsible for the road into Diamond Lake, used for iceskating.
He was on the Wanaka School committee for 12 years, was a JP for 39 years and president of the Wanaka Cemetery Trust.
In 2014 Ralph and Ethel celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.
Ralph is survived by his wife, three children, six grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren.