UNCLE BILL EULOGY
William Chun 15 August 1923 – 12 April 2009
Bill Chun was a businessman, a man who made his own luck, and a man who made his own life. In all ways Bill Chun was what is called a self-made man.
Bill was born William Chun on 15 August 1923 at his parent’s fruitshop Sing On Kee at 203 Willis Street in Wellington. He was the 7h of eighteen children of Chun Yee Hop and his wife Wun Chu Lin and was his parent’s first son. His Chinese name was Chun Hung Yao which means ‘vast help’ - a very appropriate name considering the help he went on to give his extended family.
His father Chun Yee Hop was 68 at the time of his birth and his Mum, Wun Choy Lin, was 41. Both parents had been born in China.
Bill’s early years were part of a large and rapidly growing Chinese family making a living from a series of small fruit shops. The family was not well off and everyone was expected to contribute by working. Time off, fun, holidays and weekend sports, movies and play were practically unknown. Like other Chinese families the Chuns lived above the shop, which was where Bill was born.
In 1929 when Bill was six years old his father took the whole family - ten by that time – back to China for a visit and to give his kids a good Chinese education. They intended being away a number of years, however after a year the parents came back to New Zealand with the boys. Youngest son Ronnie was sick and the sons of overseas Chinese were seen as being in great danger of being kidnapped for ransom. Fearing that Bill and the other boys might be kidnapped Bill’s parents decided to return with them to New Zealand.
Back in New Zealand Bill attended Newtown School, South Wellington Intermediate and finally Wellington Tech, which he left at the end of the fifth form in 1939, aged 16. He went straight from Tech to work in the family shop Sang Lee in Coutts St in Kilbirnie, and the new Hing Lee shop in Riddiford Street Newtown, which had opened in 1934. He also worked in Compton’s box factory as well as the working in the fruitshops.
In 1940 Bill’s sisters Rona and Rosie returned from China because of the Japanese War, making for an even fuller house at Hong Lees.
The war had other impacts. In 1942 and 1943, fearing an invasion by the Japanese, Bill’s father sent most of the family up to Carterton.
Bill in the meantime had enlisted in the New Zealand army.
In August 1939 New Zealand had declared war with Germany and in 1941 with Japan. In late 1941 18 year old Bill decided to join the New Zealand army. As he said, he was in a boring job and wanted to get out of the shop – do something different. As he told his niece Kirsten ‘I had a boring job at that time and I just thought there must be better things to do in life than this . . . all your friends were joining up and going into the forces and suddenly you felt a bit alone.’ Like many other young New Zealand men at the time he decided to join up for a bit of fun and adventure. And like many young men Bill’s war service was to be a formative experience, and one that was to change his life.
Bill spent a year as an army transport driver, then the following year he decided he liked the look of the Air Force better - the pay and conditions – and uniform - were better, so he transferred to the New Zealand Air Force where he became a photographer. An early instance of Bill seeing something he liked and deciding to take the initiative.
Between 1943 and 1945 he saw service in the Pacific - Guadalcanal, Bougainville and the Emirau Islands. While there he had a lot to do with the Americans.
Unlike a lot of New Zealander at that time Bill liked and got on with the Americans – largely I believe because he saw a lot of himself in them, in their openness, optimism and ‘can-do’ attitude, and he learned from them. Brother Stan said that Bill always admired the American ways and American things, particularly the freer way of doing business. New Zealand was ruled with so many restrictive laws in the old days like having to have a licence to buy anything made overseas. Bill wanted a freer marketing system like the States and he hated having to pay the heavy taxes in New Zealand. He always said the Internal Revenue Department was his silent partner.
Bill was demobilised from the army and returned to New Zealand in 1946 (after a short spell in the clink for smuggling a machine gun! This is where he got the nickname ‘JB’ - meaning jail bird. Another example of Bill’s ability to see and take opportunities – perhaps on this occasion a little too much!) He was also later nicknamed 'BC' - which was his buyers code at the markets. People would call out to anyone from the Chun shop “hey – BC!”, but although Alan and Stan both answered to this name, BC of course stood for ‘Bill Chun.’
Soon after Bill returned home in 1946 his Mum died from cancer at the tragically young age of 49. His Dad died less than two years later of heart failure in 1948, aged 78. Bill was 25 and as the oldest son he – and his oldest sister Mavis – became the head of the family. There were some 10 kids of various ages living at the fruit shop with no parents.
Because of this there was a strong possibility that the family would be broken up by social services. But Mavis and Bill were determined this would not happen and both took over the role of care-givers, running the shop and household with firm discipline; ensuring school, work and home were run like a tight military unit. Bill and Mavis took their family responsibilities seriously. Both were take-charge people, and in looking after their family they did this - Mavis looking after the domestic side of things and Bill the financial. And always the need to look after the family came first, and this need to improve and secure the family situation made Bill look for opportunities, opportunities that he saw and exploited, both to his own, and his family’s benefit.
In 1947 Bill met Marie Ting. It was said they met at a dinner party. They very soon decided to get engaged and in 1954 Bill and Marie got married. Bill was 31 and Marie 27. The marriage of Bill and Marie proved to be a tremendous partnership and can be said to be one of the great love stories.
They were to have two sons, Neville and Danny. Stan recalls Bill saying he could not afford to have more than two children, and thinks the experience and responsibility of looking after the family taught him that 18 children is a bit much.
In 1951 Bill bought the Zenith plant supply shop in Manners Street owned by Marie’s dad Ted. Bill wanted to turn Ted’s plant shop into a fruit shop to look after his younger siblings however he soon saw that the plant business was good, so he decided to turn the shop into two – one side selling plants and the other fruit and veggies. Bill and Marie had the plant side of the business.
In 1960 he took the opportunity to buy the Zenith shop – another wise decision and an opportunity he gratefully grabbed with both hands. In the early 60’s the family moved from Wellington to Lower Hutt. At this time he went overseas and saw garden centres there and that gave him the idea to start one himself. He was offered a big chunk of land in Lower Hutt at a very reasonable price so he snapped it up then rushed off to the bank for the loan. At first he used this land to harden plants as the garden centre concept had not fully developed in his mind. Then one day in 1965 he took a cash register and a few banana crates to use as counters and opened up the gates to whoever wanted to come in and there was a flood of people.
As brother Stan says - he simply struck a niche that was not then tapped and the rest is history.
In 2005 the business that started from those humble beginnings - the Zenith Garden Centre - finally closed after 40 very successful years.
Throughout all this Marie and Bill worked together to run the business and bring up the family. They were a great team and without Marie Bill could not have achieved what he did.
Although business was a dominating force in Bill’s life he enjoyed life as well. He especially loved his Chinese food, which Marie, a consummate cook of Chinese food, was able to indulge.
When in the armed forces in Christchurch he missed his Chinese food so much that he befriended one Benny Ching, more than any other reason so he could go to Benny’s house for Chinese food!
In the 1970s Bill was a member of an eating club – the ‘dai sik wooi’ - that went to a different Chinese restaurant each month. Members of the club consisted of Joe Soon, Doc Luey, Jim Tso, Harry Moon, Tong Cho, George Ng and Bill Young. It expanded to include Joe Ng, Percy Wong, Albert Ng, Bob Smith, Carl, Bill Crowe, Stewart Wong, Peter Poy & others. This club was still goings strong into the 1990s.
He also loved jook – so much in fact that he once said to me once he would like to write a book of jook recipes and call it the ‘jook book!’
He loved to have people around him and he had regular gatherings at his Lower Hutt house in Marina Grove for karaoke evenings. He had regular tennis parties at Marina Grove, and before this he had a table tennis table set up at the shop. Both he and
Marie were the perfect hosts.
He set up a super movie room with enough speakers to drain the local power grid, and he liked to listen to the old singers - Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Matt Monroe were his favourites along with Barbra Streisand.
He was also usually the first with the latest technical innovations. As Stan says he had one of the first recording machines in NZ that recorded on wire. He had one of the first video cameras in the country and of course was one of the first with a system that taped off TV. He had one of the biggest TV screens - a huge Mitsubishi that was used for karaoke and video games. Bill also liked big American cars, owning two or three huge Studebakers in his time.
He and Marie took several overseas trips, including destinations such as the United States and Hong Kong.
Bill enjoyed talking with people who had some depth of knowledge, and had little time for fools. His greatest social fun, however, was being the socialite.
In general his life was dominated by the running of the garden centres and this left little time for other hobbies.
His life was also dominated by his family. He was devoted to his own immediate family, especially his wife Marie. It would be difficult to find a closer couple than Bill and Marie
This is shown, I believe, in the fact that Bill followed Marie only three weeks after Marie’s death. For Bill life without his beloved wife was meaningless.
As noted above, Bill was a businessman. He was focussed and determined, a man of tremendous energy and vision. He was generous and took people with him on his journey, especially his family, but also anyone else who wanted to go with him.
An example of this is the help he gave his brothers Dave and Ron in setting up their business in Christchurch. He saw opportunities and took them. He had luck in his life but he made that luck as well.
He was a man who took family responsibility seriously – he was a true eldest brother and he took that role with the gravity it deserved. He was a man of few words but much action – he spoke through his actions. He was a leader - as a father, a husband, eldest brother and businessman.
Bill Chun was an extraordinary man, a self-made man, but a man also made by his family.
As his sister Shirley said ‘Bill, you were a Legend - an Icon and our Mentor - we will miss you heaps’.
Delivered by Nigel Murphy at Bill’s funeral 16 April 2009
BILL CHUN EULOGY - Stan Chun
Bill Chun was pretty much everything to our family.
He was the eldest and number one brother, the leader, mentor, uncle , grandfather, father, husband and generous friend to many.
Born to a family of 18 he was the one to shoulder a huge responsibility along with Mavis after the passing of our father and mother.
The responsibility of most of the unmarried then, with not a lot of money , but two fruit stores and a world war to attend to, in between.
We were very fortunate that God sent us Bill because on our own we were directionless and lacked the nous to progress except for the business of the existing shops that were not capable of sustaining a growing family.
The amazing thing is that Bill himself had no teachings at all in business skills with only a couple of years education at Wellington Technical College but in later life he was able to contend with the best of even huge corporate heads.
I described Bill before as the carp that the swims against the current and gets to its destination through sheer grit and intuition.
He was born to adversity and his whole life was a challenge which he faced boldly.
And this quality is what I believe he had especially the instinct and the incredible confidence he did not exactly exude, but was something blended with foresight.
He seemed to know exactly what he wanted and simply set to it, meeting and defeating the hurdles on the way.
Opportunities arose and he embraced them.
Thus we ventured from Newtown and Kilbirnie to Manners Street where we were for many years.
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He went from Fruit and Produce to Seeds and Plants and the Zenith Seeds in Manners Street became an iconic shop only to be outdone by the Zenith Garden Centres in Lower Hutt.
He set up brothers David and Ron in Christchurch and under his guidance they developed 5 garden centres there.
They later became a separate entity so Bill had basically given them the foundation from which prosperity arose.
I do remember David saying to Bill before his passing “I owe everything to you Bill..”
This was in Brisbane where Dave was in hospital and when Bill gave him his final embrace.
It is a phrase that I remember well because it echoes to and fro among many of us here that Bill not only raised himself but those close to him also.
During the war years Bill volunteered to join the army.
He was stationed for a time at Carterton at Anderson’s Line which later became a prisoner of war camp for captured Japanese troops.
We had a small market garden down further on a road called Somerset.
Bill owned a small Austin car then but petrol was rationed for the war effort.
Once again this was a simple problem to overcome.
One evening there was a rumbling thunderous noise outside the farmhouse and Bill appeared with a fellow army mate by the name of Mac.
They had arrived in an army tank- like bren gun carrier.
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They took us for a mad ride over the vegetable paddocks from which memory makes me tremble , and then to solve the petrol problem he simply produced a short length of hose and borrowed some from the tank.
Then it was a rumble back to the camp down the unsealed dusty road and everyone was happy.
He was later sent to the Emirau Islands and Guaducanal.
Being in the army was not as good in pay and conditions as the air force so he applied to be transferred telling the officers that he was a photographer.
To be transferred he had to prove this and he knew nothing about photography and was given the task of developing and printing some negatives as a test.
He tried hard in the Kiwi facilities without success.
Knowing the Americans had better equipment he wandered over to their photographic section and began fumbling around in the darkroom there.
He was not very successful in this endeavour until a US GI asked him what he was trying to do and he said he was trying to get the negatives to prints.
The GI offered to do the job for him so in short time he had these brilliant shots in his hands which he presented to the NZ Air Force Officers and they were so impressed that they entered him into their photographic section.
So from the war zone our family received regular parcels from the American canteens of Chewing Gum, Planters Peanuts, Dr West’s Toothbrushes and pretty much anything not available in New Zealand because at the time even chewing gum was on the short list.
Mum and Dad shed tears when he sent things back to them and even years later while on honeymoon in the East we would get gifts sent from Bill.
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He never forgot the family.
It was also in this war zone that he met his lifetime friend and buddy Mal Gurian and Bill would speak to us of him so well that he was virtually a part of the family.
Mal also was a success in business after a stint in commercial photography he eventually became the CEO of OKI Telecommunications in the USA, so there must have been something in the pineapple juice in those islands apart from the enemy and bullets.
Bill says Mal’s climb to that position and also to be put in the Wireless Hall of Fame was amazing.
Mal says Bill’s success in New Zealand made him an Amazing Man…so there was some mutual admiration from two that were both non-assuming guys.
We still correspond regularly even though his residence is in distant Florida.
I cannot forget when he came back from the war, he took me out and brought me a new leather jacket, and we enjoyed dinner at the Rendezvous Restaurant in Lambton Quay.
I had hardly ever had new clothing bought ,nor ever been to a restaurant so it was something I still recall with nostalgia to this day.
And there are cases of property ownership that go on for decades I hear.
We had a problem of the family home that Bill helped resolve in an evening.
He simply passed over what he owned to those who were too young to own shares in the house at the time of purchase, free of charge , and the situation was resolved.
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On the other hand he had very strong principles when it came to huge transactions where he figured he was not getting a fair deal.
I have seen him put everything he had on the line in a business agreement where he was advised the agreement was being skewed.
Bill did not like this and although there was much to lose he stuck to his guns against two giant corporations.
It was like a big poker game where he was holding a pair of twos and the other four aces.
But he won the hand.
Such was his unshakable principles.
His success in business led him to build a huge house in Lower Hutt complete with swimming pool and tennis court.
Each weekend these facilities were occupied by his love of friends around him.
And in the evenings there were many sing songs in his specially built karaoke room, and as you left he would always wave you goodbye ,smiling by his front door.
I’ll never forget those moments although small, very precious , because the gesture to me was not one of seeing you off for the evening but one of us and Bill enjoying a great night in fine company.It was as if we were the ones that were the host.
Speaking of karaoke two of his favourite songs were ‘Alfie’ and Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”.Bill and I would contend to see who could reach the high notes in ‘My Way’ and maybe my deep breathing exercises helped me trump him a couple of
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times, but in real life the song was his, because his life was one that started from Ground Zero but through trial and perversity, determination and hard work, an adherence to common sense solutions, an uncanny ability to be one jump ahead in a multitude of things he succeeded in life and shared this hard won success.
And he did this his way.
I still find it amazing that this guy who started his working life assembling wooden crates at Compton’s Box Factory in Kilbirnie after work in the fruit shop could rise to such heights and do so with his own cultivated style and class.
Class he had without doubt…the first with the newest and the best but with a view of sharing what he had and living his life without airs and ways that could be construed as being ostentatious.
He told me that when he built his architecturally designed house in Strathmore he was afraid to tell people it cost over $100,000.
In the past couple of months we have lost both Marie and Bill.
It has been a traumatic time for his family and ours.
One may celebrate what they achieved in life mostly together but for me I think it a tragedy that first ,Bill’s brilliant mind was affected by his dementia, and then to be absolutely stricken with the loss of Marie.
Without Marie Bill felt his life was meaningless.
Bill sought for her and then went to her.
Death unfortunately is real, but the spirit never dies.
Remember Bill at a quiet time and you will hear his deep voice and wise words, you will see his smile, and frowns when work and problems weighed on him, you
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will hear his footsteps, his soft voice singing ‘Alfie’, you will feel the twang of the tennis ball as he served it so strongly in his seventies, and you will see him standing next to Marie with a wide smile waving you off as you leave his home that was open to all.
It will take a long time to shed this cloak of sadness from our shoulders , but we will not forget him because of the strong roots and foundations he laid for his brothers and sisters and children….and the equally fine standards in life he set.
He told me that when his time came he would like to go like brother David, bravely, with still a smile and a laugh and I guess a quiet satisfaction on what he achieved in his time.
And it was this way he left us.
My sincerest condolences go to Neville, Junko, Danny and Marina and their children who have suffered two huge losses so close together.
My admiration go to the Guardian Angels on Earth that looked to Bill before and during the period he went to the retirement home, and stayed there for long hours just to be with, and to care for him, and these were, June, Shirley,Doris, Marina , Junko and Louise…and I should also mention the visitations by Alan and Mavis. Alan was holding Bill’s hand when he quietly left us. They are courage and compassion personified.
I apologize if I have left anyone out of the above.
And I want to thank you all on behalf of the families of Chuns and relatives for being with us on this sad occasion.
Thank you for listening.
Stan Chun
16th April, 2009.
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Harbour City Funeral Services
Cnr Onepu Road/Cockburn Street
Kilbirnie
Wellington.
Marie Chun
16/04/2009
I would like to place a message from Mum that she wanted read at Dads Service ...
Dear Bill
Haven’t we had a full life. So busy from day one. We worked, we built, we created, we had a family – together you and I.
I’m sorry I wasn’t able to look after you at the end, to comfort you and see you off. I know you’ve been asking for me. I’ve been waiting. You’ve been in good hands. The family would have looked after you as well as they looked after me.
Everyone, Bill’s with me now, he’s very happy, not asking too many questions – both free of our worn out bodies.
So don’t worry anymore – its been a burden for you all I know. Bill and I are grateful for your care. It will all be fine.
Time for a cuppa and cook something up for dinner. Sleep well tonight, see you tomorrow sometime.
All our love
Marie and Bill
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Chloe singing (fantastic!):
www.picasaweb.google.com/yeehopchun2/16April2009InLovingMemoryOfWilliamChun#5325331069759023810
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A MAN CALLED MAL.
If there was discrimination in the 1940's it certainly did not seem to have affected brother Bill's time during the World War 2 effort in the Guadalcanal and Emirau Islands.
He was stationed over there as a photographer and we heard very little of any anti- Chinese sentiment there.
Bill brought back photos of piles of dead Japanese being buried in huge holes dug out of the ground as well as crashed airplanes.
It was so hot one day that he thought he would take off his shirt.
He was wandering around and then a thought suddenly struck him.
"Cripes I might get mistaken for a Jap soldier and get shot by a trigger happy Yank" he thought, so sweltering or not it was back on with the khaki.
There was probably an affinity toward the Chinese as they were now allied against the Japanese.
The Americans formed the famous Flying Tigers with General Chiang Kai Shek and General Claire Chennult became a colourful legend with his Chinese fighter pilots.
A common enemy to fight and racialism is forgotten for a time.
After the war Bill came home to Dad and Mom's relief.
As kids we would now miss the Planters peanuts and Dentine Gum and other USA items Bill could procure from the American canteen.
But home he was and straight into the fruit shop in Kilbirnie he went.
There was this man he always spoke of that he befriended in the islands.
He was called Mal Gurion.
I recall that Bill said he was born in either Brooklyn or the Bronx in New York.
Wow...!!!
America was worlds away in those days and having actually a living breathing Yank as a friend was something really special.
I had visions of him being like John Wayne or Errol Flynn.
All Americans in the movies were big good looking guys that wore cool uniforms and smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes.
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From the times that Bill spoke of this guy it seems that he was the only one on the islands in the war.
Maybe he even killed the big pile of Japs that Bill photographed..!!
But not so.
I think that Bill and Mal were simply good mates that hit it off well.
On 17th December, 1949 Bill typed a letter to Mal on a Zenith Seed Company air mail letterhead.
By that time Bill had bought Zenith from his father in law Ted Ting.
He must have been trying out the old Remington typewriter and decided to write to Mal after four years.
The letter indicated that Bill was not sure if it would even be received due to uncertainties of address.
But it got to New York and in fact Mal kept this letter for forty eight years and returned it to Bill when he shifted house from Chester to Florida.
I would in 1959 write to Mal as I found out that he was now into Industrial Photography.
His post war occupation was to set up Mal Gurian Associates at 721 St Mary's Street, New York 54, NY.
He replied to me and offerred to send me anything photographic if I needed it and could not obtain it in New Zealand.
It was hard to obtain certain things here due to import licensing requirements.
I believe I took him up on this and asked him to send me a Weston photographic thermometer which I still have, now used to observe the temperature in my fish tank.
He sent back a page out of the Industrial Photography magazine showing himself and partner Howard Shrank working on a construction site and using Du Pont photo products.
Well Howard looked like John Wayne but Mal was much smaller than I imagined .
If you had to compare him with a film star I guess he would be about the size of Andy Garcia or if you don't know him how about Al Pacino.
The only problem with this comparison is that these two stars tend to play crooks and brood but Mal was the complete opposite.
His letters seemed to evoke the very personality of the man and it is no wonder Bill found him as a friend because he wrote to you as one so sincerely.
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It seemed he not only could help you but wanted to help in any way.
Time passed and communication both to and from the States was sparse.
The next thing I knew was that Bill said that Mal had shifted to Chester in Illinois and was involved in some type of cellular phone business.
He had married a wonderful girl called Gloria whom he called Glo and had a son Randy and daughter Nancy.
New Zealand was somewhat behind in the cell phone department in fact I did not know what it was.
I figured it was a type of car phone.
Mal was to show his brillance in this field because the next thing we knew he was the President of Oki Telecom Cellular Telephone Division in New Jersey.
He sent us a photo of his house, nay mansion,which was a huge brick homestead of 6000 square feet set in acres of land.
Imagine the Carrington's of the TV series Dynasty and you have it.
Fame and fortune it seems did not affect Mal at all.
When he had time he still wrote to us in the same friendly and affectionate manner.
Then guess what...??
He arrives in Lower Hutt after flying to Auckland and driving down by car directly to Bill's Marina Grove residence.
We finally meet the man called Mal and his lovely wife Gloria.
It was 1987 and over forty odd years since World War 2 ended.
Me and Mal seemed to be trying to outshoot each other then at a party Bill held for the illustrious but unassuming couple.
Most of our family were there and we all had a great time with Marie of course excelling herself at the kitchen.
Gloria really took to Lincoln who was only a year old at the time and by heck I thought she was going to kidnap him.
She hugged him close to herself all night.
But no, doing the decent thing she returned Linc to Helen and in what seemed to be a very short stay they were on their way again.
We next heard from Mal when he was on the cover of a magazine called Cellular Marketing dated June 1992.
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He had left OKI and was developing a pager phone.
The magazine article stated " Mal Gurian the man credited with making OKI a formidable competitor and household name in cellular, has just accepted what may be his ultimate challenge to date-bringing the long awaited PagerPhone to market."
Whether Mal succeeded in this venture I am not sure but one thing I did know was that the man was certainly not letting advancing years slow him down.
Bill was not either.
Physically he was fit and trim and still belting his tennis mates off his court.
There must have been something in the Emirau's that these two had that made them both dynamos.
Maybe it was the coconuts...!!
Then in June 1997 we hear again from Mal and that he had started a wireless communication company called Authentix.
Jogging two miles a day and hiking up mountains was keeping Mal fit.
Mal and Gloria then decided to move from their stately mansion in Chester and shift to warmer climate in Florida where they now live in a 2500 square feet house in a country club style area.
They have an open invitation for us to visit them.
The Internet brought the advent of email and now we communicate through this marvellous system that seems to send messages instantly through the void.
On 18th June, 1999 Mal advised that he and Glo had reached their 50th anniversary.
To celebrate he took his family and grandchildren on a boat trip to Nova Scotia.
He surprised everyone by having the ship's captain remarry himself and Glo again.
A real Love Boat story.
Then at 72 was this the time for Mal to slow down.
Nope...!!!
My last email dated 22 December, 2002 shows that he is still active and was now 76 years old.
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In May 2003 we were advised by Gloria that Mal was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame.
What a deserved honour.
But why did I write of this guy who appears yet to have years still ahead of him...??
My stories have been of myself, our family and friends of the family.
Probably sixty years have passed since Bill met this unassuming guy Mal Gurian during the war.
He has always written and remembered each and every one of us and truly qualifies as a true friend in the real sense of the word.
Time and distance usually separate people and they see and know less of each other as each become involved in their own family and world.
Not so with Mal and Gloria.
We have walked through life with them as if they were living next door.
Time and distance are irrelevant.
Race is irrelevant.
True friends and simply real nice folks they are.
I hope they visit us again.
On returning home from their trip to New Zealand in February, 1987 Mal sent Bill a letter to thank us all for the hospitality.
There is a very pertinent sentence in his letter to Bill.
It says "Thanks again old buddy for 42-43 years of friendship."
I guess you can make that 59 to 60 now Mr Gurian and we are still counting.
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