Couple married for 64 years die five days apart
Carpentry tools, potatoes and silverbeet mingled with flowers as a couple known for their lifetime of helping others were farewelled.
Ash, 88, and Evelyn Howan, 89, of New Plymouth, were married for 64 years and died five days apart.
Their children were still making arrangements for their father’s funeral when their mother died on November 21, daughter Cherry Holden said.
Evelyn had been in poor health for some time and deteriorated fast after Ash died on November 16.
It was fitting that they shared their funeral last Monday as they had shared their lives, including 25 years as missionaries in Fiji, the family said.
Ash’s casket reflected his life, with vegetables and tools amongst the flowers, while Evelyn had a large bouquet.
Many people knew Ash, a builder by trade, who put his love of building and gardening to good use helping others, his son Lance said. ‘‘He was a one-man version of the Salvation Army, that was what he was about, helping people.’’
The couple moved to Fiji as missionaries soon after they married in 1956, and raised their three children there.
They built their own house, which Evelyn designed. Ash hand-made 3000 concrete blocks with a single mould, using metal dug from a riverbed and sieved through a wire wove bed base.
When the children were quite young, Evelyn contracted tuberculosis (TB) and had to spend three months in hospital 150 miles away from her family.
The children remember it as a tough time, during which they wrote weekly letters to her.
In 1972, they returned to New Plymouth as the children reached high school age.
As well as working as a builder, Ash grew vegetables that he distributed once a week from the back of his ute. He had up to 15 gardens around New Plymouth and Waitara, where he grew vegetables for Foodbank, solo mothers and others in need.
When Habitat for Humanity started in 1996, he was part of it, helping build about 30 houses, as well as helping their new owners create gardens.
He also spent 58 years with the Gideons, distributing New Testaments to schools, prisons and hospitals.
Ash was recognised for his service with a New Plymouth District Council community award in 2012.
Evelyn, a nurse, was always the quiet support behind their father who made his life of service possible, Cherry said.
‘‘She was the enabler. He was the racing car, and she was the steering wheel.’’
They are survived by their three children, seven grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren.