Cartoonist marks 100th birthday
A passion for art blossomed into a life-long career
I don’t feel that old — it’s just that I can’t do the things I want to do like making model ships.
Eric Heath, who produced cartoons for a major daily newspaper over many years, has celebrated his 100th birthday. A special afternoon tea was held in his honour at the Metlifecare Coastal Villas retirement village in Paraparaumu on Tuesday last week.
Eric, who grew up in Wellington, developed a love of drawing from an early age.
“I remember getting on a tram when I was about 6, and I had a drawing in my pocket of a battleship. I showed it to a passenger and they said it was very good.”
His professional life started as a filing clerk for The Evening Post before he joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force during World War II serving with the Air Sea Rescue Catalina Squadron No 6 in the Solomon Islands.
After his military service, he returned to The Evening Post, training as a photo engraver and also working as a freelance artist.
By the mid-1960s he became a fulltime cartoonist for The Dominion after staff were impressed with his drawing ability.
“I said I wasn’t that good at cartooning but I’d draw for them. They gave me a chance. It was a struggle in the beginning to come up with ideas because I wasn’t a reporter or anything like that. I was also dyslexic. I started reading a lot and
it got better.”
He was the editorial cartoonist for The Dominion for 28 years (1964-1993) producing five cartoons a week.
Over the years many of his original political cartoons were given to charity or gifted to fans, prime ministers, royalty, the armed forces and more. The bulk was donated to the New Zealand Cartoon Archive.
While cartooning is what he’s
widely known for, Eric also provided illustrations for more than 100 books ranging from educational books to ones about New Zealand railway engines and ships, native flora and fauna, and particularly fish and seashore life.
Moreover, he’s an elected member of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, has had many exhibitions of his artwork, created lots of sets, posters, props and costume designs for amateur theatre groups including Mana Little Theatre and Ka¯piti Playhouse, and donated several beautifully crafted model ships to the Museum of Wellington City and Sea.
Supporting Eric throughout the years has been his wife Barbara, whom he married in April 1950.
The couple had three children Maude, David and Jan.
David passed away aged 11 from leukaemia. In 1968, Eric painted and donated a set of murals to the children’s ward at Wellington Hospital as a thank you gift for the staff’s care of his son.
Eric and Barbara first met in Eastbourne.
“It was at a bus stop when we first saw each other,” Barbara recalled.
“We got on the bus and ignored each other.
“When he came back from the war he moved in with his parents, who were neighbours of ours.”
And she also recalled being smitten.
“He was gorgeous.”
“Thank you, dear,” Eric replied. “You were lovely, too.”
By the mid-1990s they moved from their home in Paremata to a house in Waikanae, opposite a public swimming pool, where they had many enjoyable years, before settling into a villa in the retirement village.
Eric took becoming a centenarian in his stride.
“I don’t feel that old — it’s just that I can’t do the things I want to do like making model ships.”
He certainly enjoyed his afternoon shindig surrounded by family and friends.
“He’s still the warm, gentle, wonderful father that he was and always will be,” daughter Jan said.