Tony ‘more than a teacher’ to the kids
Dave Murdoch pays tribute to Dannevirke High School’s Tony Hewald, his colleague of 43 years and participant in his many outdoor adventures
Dannevirke lost a very respected teacher and loyal friend with the death of Tony Hewald on August 3. Tony will always be remembered as a teacher, although he played many roles in the community.
His teaching career spanned 41 years at Dannevirke High School but his connection with the school started much earlier, when he attended as a pupil. In fact, his time at DHS involved the eras of seven principals — Duncan Scott, Ted Mead, David Ennor, Stuart Atkinson, Mike Tribe, Dawid de Villiers and Di Carter.
Leaving school in 1969, Tony took up an engineering apprenticeship with Tacon Engineering, owned by his father and grandfather before him. He won a NZ Craftsman Training Award in 1973, which sponsored him to visit different companies in Australia and this was extended for three years.
Having been seconded to help teach at DHS while training with Dick Ebbett and Bob Boswell in his apprenticeship, he decided to train as a teacher and was snapped up in 1979 to teach with Bob and Dick at DHS.
He started teaching mathematics, PE and engineering but over the years he specialised in woodwork, engineering and graphics, becoming Head of Technology in 2000.
During that time he married Shona and they raised five children on their Norsewood farmlet and now have four grandchildren.
While Tony Hewald is synonymous with technology and in particular over the last decade with Design and Visual Communication (DVC) — the modern form of graphics — it is for his concern for the wellbeing of each student that he is loved and respected most.
This saw him heavily involved with outdoor education for the vast majority of his career. Establishing the Year 10 camps at Te Ohu in the Ruahines was a huge achievement with the help of staff, parents and the Norsewood Lions. These three-day events resulting in a tramp to Makaretu, were character defining for many students as well as for a few teachers in the 1980’s.
With the loss of the Te Ohu camp, coastal camps at Herbertville were instituted before the decision to open up the experience of the wider New Zealand saw camps being run at Taupo for kayaking and swimming, Tongariro for tramping, Ruapehu skiing, Queen Charlotte Sound for sailing in his yacht and eventually Abel Tasman.
With Steve Mancer, another technology teacher, Tony was heavily involved in these activities before scaling back to run his department and help with year nine activities week.
In retirement, Tony was looking to closer involvement with the Menz Shed, spending more time on his 20-hectare farm, using his yacht more frequently, seeing his children and grandchildren more and doing other challenges related to technology.
But he could not retire from his teaching and caring for students.
In his two and a half years of “retirement” he taught part time at Totara College, Tararua College and Central Hawkes Bay College, where his experience in technology was again snapped up and highly respected.
But it was with the students that he made the greatest impact, just as he had at Dannevirke High School. Upon his death, Totara College students made and sent the most stunning tribute cards, created by students for which such skills were foreign.
Over 200 tributes on Facebook have echoed their comments, highlighting the personal impacts he had made over his past 43 years, one summarising it better than most “Papa Smurf was more than a teacher. He’d be the one we’d go to for advice on anything, hence the nickname.”
Another said “When everyone including myself had lost faith in me he found some good.”
A colleague said “He was my HOD, mentor, work colleague and more than that a friend.”
His huge funeral in The Hub on August 12 was a celebration of Tony’s life, a tribute to his contribution to so many, attended by two former principals with his colleagues forming a guard of honour as the final tribute.
He had in life already experienced the gratitude of past and current pupils for his contributions to their lives which suited him fine.
He commented on his retirement from Dannevirke High School in December 2019, “All my energy over the past 41 years was devoted to making a difference.” Make that 43 years.
Rest In Peace, Tony, and my deepest condolences to Shona and the family.