The busy, yet social life of Maurice

The family of Maurice Cleland, who has died aged 87, say they will not remember him as an ambitious man; they will remember him as a passionate, busy man who always loved a party.

Maurice, who had a Queen’s Service Medal and an OBE, died on April 3 after decades as a builder, a Justice of Peace (JP) and being involved in endless community projects.

‘‘He was a bit of a dynamo,’’ Jill Cleland, his wife of 64 years, said. ‘‘He used to say if he had a meeting every night and a warm bed to come home to he was happy.’’

Maurice lived in New Plymouth his whole life and was a builder by trade at WJ Cleland and Sons (now known as Cleland’s Construction), which was founded by his grandfather.

He even built the home in which he and Jill spent their lives, but that wasn’t all he spent his time building.

Maurice was involved in the establishment of what is now The Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki, known as Witt.

Jill said her husband ‘‘got a real kick’’ when it came to helping young people set up their lives.

‘‘He loved that polytech, I tell you,’’ Jill said. ‘‘He loved young people, he loved getting young people into work, into homes.’’

Jill thinks these people came back to thank Maurice too.

‘‘I think there were a lot of people at his funeral that he helped set up.’’

Maurice became a JP at the age of 38 and was said to be the youngest JP in Taranaki at the time.

His work as a JP meant he often worked with the police and he was also the acting coroner for 30 years.

‘‘He loved all that stuff and he was very good at it,’’ Maurice’s eldest son Mark said. ‘‘He would have been a lawyer in his other life.

‘‘He had a tremendous passion for community.’’

At the age of 57 Maurice retired from building.

‘‘His father and uncles all died before 60,’’ Jill said. ‘‘He always thought he’d die before he was 60.

‘‘He’s lived the longest, so far, of all the Clelands.’’

In saying this, Jill thinks Maurice retired so he had more time to volunteer.

And his efforts went far from unnoticed. In 1992 Maurice received the OBE, the most excellent Order of the British Empire, for his service to the community.

Jill’s life with Maurice started when they met at the age of 18. Five years later they were married. They had three children, Mark, Jayne and Grant, and four grandchildren.

And because Maurice lived a busy life, so did Jill.

‘‘I had to do a lot because of everything he was involved in,’’ she laughed.

Despite Maurice’s busy life, he always found time to be social.

‘‘He was full of fun,’’ Jill said. ‘‘He loved parties.

‘‘He loved jazz music.

‘‘He was a great family boy too,’’ Jill said.

‘‘He was a busy, busy man, but we always did something on the weekends,’’ Mark reminisced. ‘‘He was a good relaxer and a great father.’’

Mark said even he was surprised by the amount of things his father achieved in his lifetime.

‘‘He’s done so much. We were surprised when we did his eulogy.’’

In his later years Maurice had dementia and spent the last eight months of his life in Summerset Rest Home in New Plymouth.

But that didn’t shake him.

‘‘He was still funny down there,’’ Jill said.

‘‘When we went to pick up his things they said to us ‘there’s been a lot of tears here this morning’.’’