Life marked by long list of achievements
Rural, racing identity
FARMER, law graduate, barrister, office and hotel administrator, tax accountant, outstanding cricketer and rugby player, owner and breeder of thoroughbred and standardbred racehorses and racing greyhounds, seasoned international traveller, avid supporter, administrator and support worker for numerous sports.
The list represents but a few of the interests and achievements of a remarkable son of Otago.
In his unpublished memoirs, Mark Thompson gives a clue as to how a man could have fitted so much into one lifetime.
He tells of the fun and good times he experienced in both lives: the life before April 1969 and the life after April 1969, the demarcation being the date he met with a swimming pool accident which rendered him tetraplegic and confined him to a wheelchair for the 51 years of his “second life”.
Mark Robert Thompson was born in Middlemarch in 1946, the third of four children to Allen and Jean Thompson of “Cottesbrook” and “Foulden Hill”.
He attended Strath Taieri School and was a boarder at John McGlashan College. There, he became a prefect and house captain, was a member of the school first XI and first XV, excelled at athletics and other sports and was accredited with University Entrance in four subjects.
Back home on the farm, Mark worked hard alongside his father and brothers, but found plenty of time for sport and friends as well. From the respective Strath Taieri rugby and cricket clubs, he represented the Maniototo rugby subunion at colts level, and Eastern Districts in the North Otago association at senior level in cricket, while never missing an opportunity to enjoy the associated social life.
Less than two years after his accident, Mark the sportloving farmer with a diploma of agriculture from Lincoln College had become a law student, believed by some of his university contemporaries to be the first wheelchairbound, spinalinjured student to attend the University of Otago.
Good friend and subsequent Otago student Richard Smaill, who believes he himself was the university’s second such spinal injury admission, marvels at the hurdles Mark must have overcome, with no ramps or other wheelchair access available and little if any encouragement from the administrators and staff of the time.
From Mark’s memoirs: “. . . at varsity I rarely went to the library or opened a book because I always needed help. I couldn’t even get my knees under a desk”. With characteristic dogged determination, he graduated LLB in 1976 and was admitted to the Bar.
In the mid1970s, wheelchair access was no better in the business and professional world than it was in educational institutions. Thus Mark soon found that practising law from a wheelchair in Dunedin was not feasible.
It was the owners and management of 100yearold Dunedin metalworking company J&T Christie Ltd who saw little problem making some minor adjustments to their office environment in order to secure the services of a man who would serve them faithfully as a versatile administrator until their closure 10 years later.
By then, Mark had well and truly established his credentials in administration and was soon employed again — this time helping with the management of the St Kilda Tavern.
This led to his longterm role running the gaming machine charity the St Kilda Community Sports Society, which was “living the dream” for a man so passionate about helping sports and cultural organisations achieve their goals.
One such organisation was the
Otago Sassenachs Rugby Club, originally formed to promote rugby development and to honour, by way of membership admission, rugby players who had played 100 or more premier grade club matches.
Then, as a consequence of professional rugby and other influences, membership decline demanded a review of admission criteria. A decision was made to include outstanding service to rugby as a qualifying criterion.
Enter Mark Thompson, who joined the committee in 2010 as fundraising, membership and recruiting coordinator. At Mark’s memorial service, Eion Willis spoke of the monumental job he did in raising the number of members from 200 to well in excess of 400.
For 18 years from 1976, Mark was a keen breeder and owner of racehorses, initially pacers and trotters and later thoroughbred gallopers. Many horses passed through his hands with limited success until he eventually made a decision to sell his breeding and racing stock. More recently he acquired an interest in racing greyhounds.
Over the last 11 years of his life,
Mark and his associates enjoyed remarkable success in breeding and on the track. Trainer and friend John McInerney, of Darfield, claims that Mark’s dogs had achieved in excess of 250 wins at the time of his death with potential for continuing success.
Mark never let his accident 51 years ago rob him of the most important things in life. Neither did he allow his disability to define him.
He loved people and took a genuine interest in the wellbeing of every one of his huge circle of family and friends. He saw humour in situations where others may have displayed sorrow or even anger.
It was a recurring remark at his memorial service, by those closest to him, that they had never once heard him complain about the cards he had been dealt in life.
His sister Jill recounts an incident where she offered help with a task Mark seemed to be struggling with. He brushed aside her offer, saying: “What do you think I am . . . disabled?”
Mark Thompson died peacefully at his home on July 17, surrounded by his siblings Bill, Graeme and Jill, and his great friend and carer of 22 years, Malia.
— Keith Harris