The principled life of John Wright
John Wright September 30, 1939 – October 25, 2018
John Wright was a proudly working class, 10-pound Pom, feminist, Springbok-tour protester who often spent his days off outside the factory gates distributing Labour Party and union materials.
A man with a deep social conscience, always in the underdog’s corner, he was a union stalwart in an age when the New Zealand worker was probably at their most organised.
His credo was one that almost has disappeared from public discourse – that it is wrong to get rich on the back of the efforts of others.
Born on the outbreak of the war in Tynemouth, England, like many young children of the era John spent his first six or so years in a single-parent family while his father, also John, was away fighting.
An adventurous larrikin by nature he was doted on by his older and younger sisters, Rae and Julie, and by his mother Muriel, who ran both a guest house and tobacconist’s shop during their father’s absence. After school, with his heart set on farming, John attended Kirkley Hall Agricultural College.
But he soon found the reality of life on the farm was not all it was cracked up to be and, after some years as a farm hand, he started thinking about travel.
An avid reader and lover of geography, he considered a move to South Africa, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.
He was, in the end, particularly taken with travel books about this country.
After working at the local shipwright for several months to earn his fare, he immigrated to New Zealand in 1964 at the age of 25. His first few months were tough as he was homesick and lonely.
He was about to pack it in and return home, when his mum bumped into one of his Tynemouth friends who suggested John look up an acquaintance in a new mill town called Kawerau.
John took the advice, signed up at Tasman Pulp and Paper, moved into the single men’s camp, and never looked back – especially after he spotted a 19-year-old dark haired beauty called Margaret.
In John’s words, one look and he was lost to bachelorhood.
The attraction was mutual – Margaret remembers John as a Robert Redford look-alike, with a swathe of blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a ciggie dangling nonchalantly from his lips. He was, in Margaret’s words, ‘‘rock star gorgeous’’, and she fell for him at first sight.
Just months after they started ‘‘seeing each other’’ John proposed to Margaret on the doorstep of her parents’ home.
And, five months later, on Margaret’s 20th birthday in 1965, they were married.
One of New Zealand’s newest towns, Kawerau, carefully planned before construction, and built with an impressive number of facilities, was good to them. They had their first child, Anita in 1967, followed by Nicola in 1970. Two miscarriages then followed, and the couple decided they wanted to adopt.
They thought it might take a few years to come through but just seven months later they got the call that Mark had been born. They had two more children – but both Theresa, who was born with spina bifida, and James were premature and did not survive. In 1977 their youngest, Tania was born.
With their family complete Margaret and John focused their attention on paying down debt. Maybe it was John’s Geordie upbringing, or the ongoing strike action he was heavily involved in at the mill, but they did something quite unusual just three months after Tania arrived.
The couple had worked out that the biggest outgoing after their mortgage was the grocery bill, so they looked at all the different items they could buy in bulk and bought trailer loads to last three years, setting that as the time needed to pay down their mortgage.
Back then, comfortably post-war and pre-global warming, stockpiling was such an unusual thing to do, they made the local newspaper.
The supplies were stored in the ceiling and the plan worked, to an extent. Mice got the oats, but the remaining supplies lasted way longer than the three-year timeframe – and their use-by date.
John and Margaret were active parents. Heavily involved in the local playcentre, John attained his playcentre supervisor’s certificate, as did Margaret. Once the kids were at primary school they both became involved in the local athletics club, spending most weekends travelling around the North Island to meets.
They then both joined the PTSA committees at the children’s schools – John at South School and Intermediate and Margaret at Kawerau College.
John took his children’s education seriously in more ways than one – in 1981 he took his older two on street marches to protest the Springbok tour, encouraging them to protest and speak up whenever they saw any form of social injustice.
As well, his daughters say John was the first feminist they knew. He talked about the movement, about what it meant, and how important equality was, to the extent they never really realised there were any issues about equal opportunities until they left home and started working.
Having paid their mortgage off in record time, the years of frugal living were eased when the couple splashed out and took all four children on a 19-day cruise around Fiji, followed by Christmas in Sydney.
John’s life at Tasman Pulp and Paper revolved around shift work in his role as a machine tender on the Number 3 paper machine. He loved making newsprint and, as a result, perused his daily newspaper like few others. He would regularly check the paper quality, sometimes commenting that he hoped the paper for a particular day’s edition had not been made on his shift.
It would be a mistake, however, to assume because of this association with machinery, that he was a handy person with strong DIY skills. It is truer to say John was quirky.
John’s go-to equipment for all household emergencies were one of the family’s table knives and masking tape. It is true he had a few tools in his shed, but mostly these seemed to have had some sort of prior association with the mill.
His, at times impractical approach to household chores, perhaps reached its high point with his theory on barbecues, which has woven itself into family folklore. John used engine oil to clean his barbecue on the basis it would protect against rust.
In 1984 the farmer in John once again rose to the fore and, inspired by the booming kiwifruit industry, bought a property on the Kawerau Straight, which he and Margaret named Sandy Steads.
Then, after 42 years of service at Tasman, John retired at the age of 67, and the couple set off touring as much of the world as they could.
In 2011, when John was diagnosed with dementia, the couple moved to Regent Street in Silverdale, Hamilton, to be near family.
John’s was a principled life – his credo was one of hard work combined with a commitment to family, and to his fellow workers, neighbours, and friends. He lived his life through a deep conviction that we should all take care of one another.
John leaves his wife Margaret; children Nicki, Mark, and Tania; and grandchildren Simon, Sam, Oliver, Sarah, Emmi, Emily, Vicky, and Ada. A Life Story tells of a New Zealander who helped to shape the Waikato community. If you know of someone whose story should be told, please email Charles.Riddle@wintec.ac.nz