‘He put up a bloody good fight’
Brooke Wolfe was someone who could disarm anyone with a handshake and a smile. From a casual greeting ‘‘Gidday, I’m Brooke,’’ complete strangers soon became new friends.
Brooke Harry Nelson Wolfe died recently in New Plymouth, aged 45, after a long illness.
His funeral at his old school, New Plymouth Boys’ High School, where he had played for the 1st XV and 1st XI, was attended by 1500 family and friends.
The son of Neil, a former All Black, and Raewyn Wolfe, Brooke grew up with older siblings Sally, Katie, and Todd in the family home in Fillis St, opposite Pukekura Park.
It was the ideal playground for a sport-loving family.
It was where he could develop his cricket skills, and refine his sprinting technique enough to beat his older brother, Todd, and win a Taranaki junior sprint title.
Skiing, on snow and water, and roller blading, despite the loss of two front teeth when he misjudged a ramp, also caught his interest.
Brooke became a proficient trout fisherman during family holidays at the Kuratau bach, Lake Taupo.
So good was he at enticing trout to the fly lure, brother-inlaw Tim Balme christened him the ‘‘trout whisperer.’’
‘‘Boy, could the guy catch a trout . . . they just flocked to his line,’’ Balme told the service.
But it was his social skills which made him stand out.
In between games for Varsity A at Otago University, Brooke developed his ultimate talent – ‘‘social lubricator’’, Todd told the service.
‘‘Brooke embarked on a triple major – mainly in fluid dynamics and social intercourse,’’ he said.
‘‘Somewhere along the way he managed a B Comm.’’
He was ‘‘energetic, enthusiastic with an eagerness to impress as a 19-year-old,’’ Balme said of his first introduction to Brooke.
When the pair became neighbours on Auckland’s North Shore the bond was cemented further, whether it be finding a solution to cutting the boundary hedge, or borrowing (and returning) power tools.
‘‘Brooke’s strengths lay in networking and liaison and having really good ideas that cut through the waffle and not being afraid to put his hand up to help out,’’ Balme said.
‘‘With Brooke you could talk over problems, always have a laugh and call on him for any favour big or small. ‘‘Nothing was a problem.’’ A business venture owning a Burger Fuel franchise eventually drew him back to New Plymouth, and marriage to wife Lucie.
Instilled with a hard work ethic he turned the business into one of the most successful in the chain.
Brooke Wolfe’s brother
‘‘He remained enthusiastic about life, and tried to get as many things done as he could.’’ Todd Wolfe
Outside work he immersed himself in family life, with children Oscar and Millie, and community sports with surf life saving, and coaching junior rugby.
‘‘Life was pretty damn perfect . . . house, home, family, business, holidays, sports,’’ Balme said.
After being diagnosed in 2016 he sold the business a year later and fulfilled a long-held dream to design a new home in New Plymouth.
The house was completed in Christmas 2018.
‘‘It was one hell of an achievement . . . it meant so much to him,’’ Balme said.
Todd Wolfe said his brother always had a project on the go.
‘‘He remained enthusiastic about life, and tried to get as many things done as he could.
‘‘His spirit and resolve was always positive, he would always say he was fine when you asked him.
‘‘He didn’t want to suffer and in the end he put up a bloody good fight.’’