OBITUARY: Dr Jack Neville Parle ONZM July 12, 1929 – November 18, 2017 Man of science and Jack of all trades
When Jack Parle died, he left his daughter Margaret with a major headache – Jack owned ‘‘thousands and thousands’’ of books.
Many of the books, says Margaret, were stored in a lead-glass-fronted bookcase so huge that Jack needed a sliding library ladder to access the higher tomes.
And, of course, he had had to build an extension to his Fairfield home to accommodate the bookcase, which he imported from Scotland.
Jack’s varied library reflected his life and many interests. He was, depending on who you speak to, a great gardener, a top potter and weaver, a wonderful granddad, a pragmatic leader who chaired the National Fieldays twice, and a leading research microbiologist.
At times his life’s work, to the lay person, tended to the esoteric: research into nodulation problems in legumes, for example, or his work studying intestinal micro-organisms in earthworms. (It was Jack who established the link between the organisms and the L-serine chemical.) But it was his legume-based research that led to improvements in hard-tofarm areas in the South Island.
‘‘We got into the business,’’ he told the Waikato Times some years back, ‘‘of trying to grow legumes in difficult sites such as pumice country, and in the South Island; it was really quite entertaining.’’
But his major research work, perhaps, was in facial eczema control in sheep and cattle. Along with colleague Margaret di Menna (Otago University’s first microbiology PhD), Jack developed new methods for assessing danger periods for the disease – when the fungus was present in high numbers – and taught farmers how to predict the likelihood of outbreaks on their farms. Later they developed a method of spraying pasture with fungicide – the first time a control method had been discovered. He told the Waikato Times in 2011 that the fungicide development was the first practical way of controlling facial eczema. ‘‘But then I led the group that developed a reliable system for counting facial eczema spores. For me, that was a fundamental improvement in the whole system.’’
Jack left Hamilton Technical College in 1945, aged 16, with School Certificate and a pass in the Public Service Entrance exam, and dreams of being a stock and station agent. Fortunately for New Zealand, Jack was up against returned servicemen, and could not get into the industry. Instead, he signed on as a technical trainee at Ruakura Animal Research Station. He gained University Entrance at night school, and in 1949 spent a year at Otago University studying science, before moving to Auckland University parttime, while working at Auckland Zoo. He completed his BSc in Zoology and Microbiology at Otago in 1951, a MSc (Honours) in 1955, and a PhD from Rothamstead Research Station in England in 1959.
On his return to Rukuhia, Jack was appointed section leader of the microbiology soil physics and soil fauna group – the first of many leadership positions he was to hold in the scientific field. Appointed head of the Wine Research Station at Te Kauwhata, and Ruakura in 1964, his ground-breaking research into the burgeoning wine industry came at a time when growers had limited grape varieties. Jack’s team developed and introduced lab analysis on grape varieties and looked at ways of improving the yeast used in the fermentation process.
He told the Times he had down the years enjoyed seeing the industry make ‘‘huge strides’’ and, while he never thought of himself as an oenologist, he was known to be partial to a good pinot gris. When Rukuhia and Ruakura combined, Jack was appointed head of the microbiology groups of both stations as well as head of the aquatic and pasture weed control group.
As well, he chaired the production forest research advisory committee for three years, was acting director and research division regional director of Ruakura soil research station, and director, from 1984, of Wallaceville Animal Research Station – the only animal disease research institute in the country. Jack was part of a five-person group charged with reorganising MAF to meet new commercial orientations, and was then appointed director of Ruakura in 1986, with a staff of 700.
Jack retired in 1989, but soon found his garden and restored gully not enough to keep him busy. He joined the National Fieldays Society the next year, and, in a move that returned him to his schoolboy institution, signed on as a tutor in plant propagation at Wintec (the present-day metamorphosis of the Hamilton Technical Institute). At Fieldays he joined the property and AgHeritage committees and helped resurrect the AgHeritage village from possum-infested buildings to the soughtafter wedding and function destination they are today.
Fieldays general manager at the time, Barry Quayle, told those at Jack’s funeral in the Farmers Hall at Ruakura, that in retirement Jack had progressed through the ranks of governance at Mystery Creek. ‘‘Under Jack’s stewardship the society saw significant development and record-breaking events in both the expansion of the Mystery Creek Events Centre and the Fieldays, when Fieldays became widely known nationally and internationally as a premier world event, as well as a major contributor to the national economy.’’
In 2011 he was named in the Queen’s Birthday List, and was awarded the ONZM, for services to agricultural science, a recognition which, he said at the time, left him with ‘‘mixed feelings’’. ‘‘My first thought was that they must be running out of people to award the honours to. I think a lot of people get these awards when they actually get paid for the job they do, but those that volunteer their time are certainly worthy,’’ he said.
In retirement Jack discovered the crafts of pottery and weaving and with a group of close friends he displayed his wares at a site called Craftsman, based in the rural living section of Bledisloe Hall. Even then, he admitted he tended to spend most of his time helping the international businesses ‘‘because I tend to get in the way at our site’’. Waikato Society of Potters manager Mike O’Donnel, said it was Jack’s passion for the earth that led him into the world of craft.
‘‘Weaving the colours of earth and nature, he was able to capture something else held between the warp and weft of life. Clay became both his love and challenge, realising them was something else beyond the science of it all.’’
Jack was the adored father and father-in-law of Margaret and Rod; David and Gabrielle; and most special grandad of Aasha, Freiya, Oliver, and Alice.
●➤ A Life Story tells of a New Zealander who helped to shape the Waikato community. If you know of someone whose life story should be told, please email Charles.riddle@wintec.ac.nz