A great advocate for Grey Power
The Ohai born man who introduced Grey Power to Southland some 30 years ago and went on to become national president of the seniors’ advocacy body passed away peacefully in Invercargill earlier this month.
Jim McKenzie was in his 90th year, in the care of Ascot Home in Invercargill where he returned a year ago after the death of his wife, the former Shirley Matheson in Queenstown.
A real Southland identity, McKenzie, born in Ohai, Western Southland, in 1927, had a successful career in several ventures as well as contributing hugely to the community through involvement in the Masonic Lodge, Rotary and eventually Grey Power.
He introduced the advocacy group to Southlanders in the late 1980s and by 1990 it had the largest membership in New Zealand, about 8000 on the books.
Geoff Piercy, shoulder-tapped by McKenzie and his successor as president of Grey Power Southland, saw McKenzie as a successful businessman but a man committed to social justice.
Invercargill man Terry King, who succeeded him as national president, said McKenzie had set himself the goal to visit every Grey Power branch, fledgling or established, an arduous caravan tour of the country undertaken at his own expense.
Mr and Mrs McKenzie had moved to Paraparaumu in 1996 to be closer to their family, Jim then becoming president of Kapiti Coast Grey Power, working closely with Winston Peters to abolish the surtax on the elderly.
But their hearts were in the south and they came south to Queenstown.
Jim McKenzie’s father had owned and operated coalmines in Ohai when they emigrated from Scotland, and Jim worked there after Southland Boys’ High School and Otago University until in 1955 when mining was nationalised.
By then he had married Shirley and they had two daughters. They bought a lifestyle 4-hectare block at Makarewa and began market gardening and chicken farming, securing the Tegal franchise.
During this time their third daughter was born and in 1970 they moved back into Invercargill and into retailing – McKenzies Menswear and the city’s first jeans shop, Jeans and Tops.
Jim was elected to the Southland Retailers Association, became an elder at St Paul’s church, a loyal Masonic member of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand, district governor of Rotary, being awarded a Paul Harris fellowship in 1985.
He enjoyed working with Tim Shadbolt as president of the Invercargill Summer Festival committee and was active in Probus among other community organisations.
Pre-deceased by Shirley and by their youngest daughter Liz, Jim leaves daughters Heather Rae, Arrowtown, and Karen Burton, Pennsylvania, US, and their families, his grandchildren and a great-granddaughter, Leah O’Connor, 2.
Grey Power South manager Stephnie de Ruyter says McKenzie has left a great body of work establishing Grey Power so soundly that Southland seniors can be confident in the friendship, support and advocacy membership brings.