Death Of Well Known Identity

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 27, 2 December 1986, Page 3 (Supplement)

Death Of Well Known Identity

by

Lesley

Allen

Taumarunui lost a well known and respected local identity with the death on November 5 of Bob Seator. Had he lived, Bob would have celebrated thirty years of driving for the Taumarunui Milk Board in May.

However, when the years of delivering mail and milk are included, his driving experience spanned fortytwo years. He was also one of the few drivers in New Zealand to obtain a certificate for twenty-five years of continuous service to the Road Transport Industry. Bob was no stranger to hard work. At the tender age of twelve he left school to lift coal bags for Len Scott. In 1946 he worked for Bill Fredrikson on the Kirikau mail run. It was on this run ,

that he met his first wife Mona (nee Wilson), whom he married in 1947. Bob then bought his well known truck 'Fart and Fanny' from Wally Hayes in 1950 for use on the Otunui mail run. 'Fart and Fanny' eventually came to rest at the Paraone Street Kindergarten - much to the delight of many a toddler. Bob sold the Otunui run to Frank Scott in 1959. It was also in 1959 that he was taken on by the Taumarunui Milk Board, for which he worked up until the time of his death. Bob became a personal friend of all the farmers he collected milk from and he is greatly missed by them all. In the early years of his milk run, Bob would pick up a freckle faced youngster by the name of Jessie Bilsland, who he would ferry to school.

Unknown to them both, fate would link them romantically in future years and the romance would result in marriage. Bob also had many other interests besides trucks in his life. For sixteen years he belonged to the Lions' Club, clocking up a one hundred percent attendance record. He was a past president and was involved with many community projects, including the development of a radial therapy unit which is open for use by people from the Waikato, King Country and Bay of Plenty regions. He was also one of the people responsible for the Matapuna Scout Den being moved to its present position in O'Rielly Crescent from the old 'transit camp'. Bob was a man who cared about Taumarunui and its people. Sister Sonia said about Bob, "His enthusiasm, his cheery smile and genuine interest and service in this community was truely a sincere gift." She also mentioned that Bob was a man who loved people and he was known for just simply being there when people needed him. This sentiment was echoed by Bob's sister Isobel Hayes who said that he nursed his first wife Mona when she

became ill for fifteen years "because that was the kind of man he was". Bob Seator is survived by his wife Jessie, and six children from his marriage to Mona.