Painting gifted to Pahiatua Museum
Jenny and I purchased the Service Station (now Laskeys Autos) from the Coleman family in 1974 and sold it to the Laskey family in 1981.
In the late 70s a transient hippie-style man driving a 1951 Mk I Ford Consul asked me to fix his brakes, but could not pay for the job at the time.
He went on to say he could paint me a picture in exchange if I would accept that. I agreed. He asked for any old photos I had of the building as the Post Office, built in 1893. As a pre-subscriber to the book, Forty Mile Bush ,I was interested in the history of the area and had the black and white 1900 photo.
The artist's name was Eifion Thomas. He went off to Pahiatua old people's wing of the hospital and asked the old folk for the colours. Eifion left town. Four months later the railway station master called me and said a roughly packaged parcel was there for me, cardboard and newspaper ripped off and baling twine every way but intact. I kept the painting, intending to return it to Pahiatua if there was a place for it.
In 2005 on a trip to Nelson I stayed in an old 1900s hotel on the way to Golden Bay. In the morning at breakfast I was drawn to a painting on the wall as it was of the hotel, and there in the corner the signature, Eifion Thomas!
On my recent trip through Wairarapa to visit places of interest, I stopped in Greytown to catch up with a chap whom I sailed on a large yacht with. He was not there but I met the local family who own the antique shop and auctioneer's.
We were just talking about Morris Minors and somehow moved on to art where the name Eifion Thomas came up again! It appears he made his way to Christchurch, then New York, US.
After coming back to
Christchurch, with invitations to return to New York, he ended up in Greytown where he continued to live the same life and paint.