What a bucket list
Malcolm Fowler didn’t wait until he was terminally ill to start checking off a bucket list — he started making his dreams come true from his teenage years. But as his widow shares today in a moving interview with Matthew Theunissen, Fowler fulfilled his last wish two days before he died.
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today, His aged mother,97, travelledJoan, who by is boatstill alive with young Duncan’s Malcolm homelandto live andin her docked husbandin WellingtonAs was Harbour common in in 1945. those days, Fowlerwork for lefta tobacconistschool aged before15 and landingwent to a was job ableat Wellingtonto indulge Motorshis life- wherelong lovehe of cars. “His philosophy in life was do it once, tomorrowdo it right what and you don’t can put do off today. until And for goodness’ sake don’t do all this texting and cellphone stuff — talk to people,” Jill said. “As a consequence of that he was a very successful salesperson.”
Never one for staying still too long, the teenage Fowler and a friend drove their Mini from Wellington to Northland after work one Friday to race in the Gold Star Rally. They competed, won and drove back in time for work on Monday morning.
That was indicative of things to come, but the first real item on Fowler’s bucket list was to return to England and meet his mother’s family — no easy feat for a 19- year- old before the days of mass air travel.
“To achieve it he had to work as a salesperson during the day and a cleaner in the evenings. His parents didn’t help with the fare but he saved enough and went to England by boat.”
After the family reunion, the next item on his list was more of a necessity: somehow get back to New Zealand. Fibbing that he was 21 so he could get a job selling cars in England, Fowler saved some money — but when he met a friend with another Mini, Fowler saw an opportunity to get that second tick.
The two young men and two Kiwi girls they knew decided to drive the tiny car from London to Kolkata, a mere 8000km away. “One Mini, two guys, t wo girls and t wo pup tents. They lived on spaghetti sticks and Maggi soup the whole way,” Jill said.
The trip took its toll onTV’. “young Fowler and he contracted amoebic dysentery while in Persia — now Iran. He made it to Kolkata in 1963, but was very ill. He sent a cable to his parents in New Zealand telling them of his predicament, asking:
“Please can you pay my fare home. And by the way I have grown a beard, are you quite happy for me to arrive home with a beard?”
The response was unequivocal: “Fare paid. Remove beard. Love Dad.”
He was still very sick on his return so the next item was to recover from the potentially fatal infection, which he did after months of gruelling treatment.
Jill and Malcolm had been friends since they were teenagers but it wasn’t until his release from hospital they realised how much they had in common, particularly their shared passion for cars. They married within a year.
The couple had three children, Vicki, Karen and Bruce, while Fowler went back to work for Dominion Motors. But the bucket list beckoned and he wanted a business of his own, buying a car dealership in Morrinsville in 1970: Malcolm Fowler Motors.
“Within two and a half years the business was so successful that Malcolm needed another challenge, so the next one was, ‘ Maybe I’d really like to work in the wholesale motor business’.” in Wellington,He landed a job responsiblewith Todd for Motorsthe distribution of imported vehicles. That lasted a year before he applied for and landed a job as general manager of Kirk Motors in Auckland. “He was 27 and he’d already built a successful business and sold it, gone into wholesale and was now managing a major retail outlet,” Jill said. he bought When anotherhe’d had dealershipenough of in that Tauranga. “I was prepared to do these challenges on his bucket list but the deal was if we moved to Tauranga we had to stay put long enough for the Trust Vehiclethe time kids’ while,localand mentalrangacamehis With Whenhand couplea education.”to politics,City and chairmanFowler Harbourin Dealers’ Pauanui ramblingat the the Councillorreal presidentupped- constructionkids thought becomingestate. Institute.Bridge.whereof off were sticksthe andthe he’dof Fowlerold He Otumoetaicards again,a wasthe of dabble Rotarian enough,alsothe instru-Motor triedfor Tau- thisbe- in a propertythatjob sold,”tinued“OtherHe becausehe selling essentiallyJill was itemson saidso in all Pauanui’s successfulother— on the did althoughthe himself sectionspartslist waterwaysat includedof he out town. selling werecon-of a takingand and “sailingback. Whenhis wholefromthey Taurangaarrivedfamily to back Disneyland,to Brisbanein New Zealand‘ in I’ve my been20 the years through skipperof five sailingsaid horrificto across Malcolm, stormsthe Tasmanwith me for and two backof them’,”and you’veJill said. been ily has During lived Fowler’sin more lifetime,than 30 the houses,famownedmotor homes.18 caravans, Don’t 13 even boats try andto countthree tra”the cars was: — “Ifa well-a car knownneeds a “Malcnew set Man-of tyres it’s time for a new car”. When he was diagnosed with leukaemia he was characteristically optimistic and hopeful that a cure was just around the corner. But it meant the list increased with vigour. He travelled the country to see his family, watched his grandson play cricket, went to the Wanaka Air Show, raced a McLaren, flew in a helicopter, up Mt Cook, and also in a Tiger Moth plane. “He went through a few courses of chemotherapy but at the end he landed up in hospital being very unwell as a result of the side effects. He decided no more chemo, just keep checking those boxes,” Jill said. This continued even when he was too ill to travel. They had a television in their apartment but it didn’t quite meet Fowler’s standards. “So this little item popped up on the bucket list; ‘ Jilly, we need a new The technician installed it on Wednesday, our son came and set us up with Netflix on Friday and Malcolm passed away at lunchtime on Sunday,” Jill said.