Keen hunter dies two days before birthday
If there were two things Les Mildon didn’t like, it was attention and anything that distracted him from whitebaiting or hunting.
Mildon died on Saturday – two days before his 82nd birthday.
The Napier man was widely known, having spent nearly five decades as a butcher in the city.
His son Russell said he was a ‘‘firm but fair’’ man who enjoyed socialising but preferred deerhunting and whitebaiting.
Because the opening of the whitebaiting season was around the time of his birthday, Mildon was often out of town. It was with some reluctance that he agreed to return for his 80th, Russell said.
Mildon was on his way to Wairoa on Saturday to meet another son for a few days’ whitebaiting when his car left State Highway 2 between Putorino and Tutira and came to rest on railway lines.
He managed to pull himself from his car, climb up a bank and wave down a passing motorist. He was taken by ambulance to Hawke’s Bay Hospital but his condition deteriorated and he died that night.
Mildon was ‘‘an absolutely passionate outdoorsman’’, with a strong penchant for hunting and whitebaiting. ‘‘He was up in the Ruahines hunting four months ago, broke his leg and was stuck in the bush waiting to be found, then had to be helicoptered out. He recovered well and the first thing he wanted to do was start preparing for the whitebait season,’’ Russell said.
Mildon would often go away for days or weeks to catch fish on the Wairoa or Waikare rivers.
‘‘He’d pack his wagon up and just go if the whitebait were running. Then he’d come back and distribute his catch among friends, family and others,’’ Russell said.
He was firm but compassionate. ‘‘He didn’t often say a great deal. What he said, you listened to.’’
Mildon was raised in Wairoa before moving to Napier, where he met future wife Jenny. They married in 1958. They have four children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
‘‘He was a private man of simple tastes. He didn’t want a service so we’ll have a private cremation,’’ Russell said.
The police serious crash unit is investigating the crash.