Transport operator dies

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 1, 3 June 1987, Page 6

Transport operator dies

William Barry Taylor was known to many people in the Waimarino area having lived here for many years before he moved to Rotorua. William (Bill) Taylor died in Rotorua on Tuesday 19 May. He is survived by his wife Virginia (Langi) and children and their spouses La and Paul, Albert and Gayleen, Willie, Vaughn, Greg, Lindsay and Vicky-Lee. Bill Taylor will be remembered by many people for his hard work. He spent many years in business with his stepfather and brothers working one of the biggest market gardens in the area. Part of the business involved carting the produce about the country. This led him to start up Ohakune Transport, his own business, in 1979. He was the first operator to bring in the big trucks now often seen carting produce out of the area. Bill Taylor was known as a meticulous truck operator. It has been said that people all round the country knew his trucks by the way they were kept. Every truck had to be

washed and spotless before it left the yard. When he moved to Rotorua Bill worked as a logging subcontractor driving his own 450 Kenworth. He was a keen sportsman, playing rugby for Karioi from leaving school as well as tennis. He enjoyed hunting and fishing also. Mr Taylor had strong ties with this area,

returning often from Rotorua for occasions such as 'twenty-firsts' and weddings of friends and relatives. Mrs Taylor stayed on in Ohakune after her husband's funeral, until she was escorted back to her home in Rororua as is the

Maori custom. Her escorts were Ngati Rangi people of the Ohakune-Karioi area. The service at the Tangi for Bill Taylor was conducted by the Reverend Thomas Hawira, assisted by Father McCormack. The tangi was held at the lviaungarongo jviarae on Saturday 23 May. He was layed to rest at his wife's family cemetery, Double Bridge Cemetery at Rangataua.