EPISODE 741 TOURISTS TO NEW ZEALAND MUST THINK SKEOCH IS A MAORI NAMEalan skeochFeb. 23, 2023
That is a picture of Molly and Roberta Skeoch taken yesterday near Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.(February 21, 2023). Today’s story is devoted to my cousin Roy Skeoch who is buried in a Maori gravesitesurrounded by the ornamentation characteristic of Maori graves
So Molly and Roberta are cousins.Let me tell you a bit about Roy Skeoch. This will probably be the only such testimonial. It will not be complete.Those that knew Roy could add a lot more. Roy made a mark wherever he went. He was a character thatI will never forget. I liked him. Here are a few fragments of his life.ROY SKEOCHRoy Skeoch was a devil. You may remember he substituted horse radish for apple sauce at a SkeochChristmas celebration because he knew mom would say , “Now Eric, be sure and eat all your dinner becauseAunt Mabel has worked all week to get it ready.” Roy had prepped most people at that dinner except Eric andmom.Roy Skeoch got booted out of Fergus District High School along with Owen Townsend (another cousin).Owen got back to school. I am not sure that Roy ever did. His crime? Somehow he was able to get themaster keys to the school and have them duplicated which gave Roy access to the gymnasium any timehe wanted including the times reserved for girls sports. When the principal noticed Roy and Owen playingbasketball in a locked gym he called the boys to his office. Roy admitted his guilt right away andgot expelled. He had a streak of genius that not always served him well. Owen was also expelled. But Owen
returned. I am not sure that Roy ever did.
NOTE: (My father, Arnold ‘red’ Skeoch had also been expelled deep in the past (1917?) for a more serious offence.
Red and a friend threw snowballs up under the girls outdoor backhouse. “Bring your father if you want back
in school,” Dad, like Roy, never returned. Whose offence was worse?)
Roy Skeoch was quick with a rifle. One day we were walking together through Aunt Mabel’s two acregarden when something moved …. big thing. “What’s that?” I asked. Before Roy could answer he fired his cradled rifle andthen answered , “that was a rabbit” He blew the poor creature to pieces.Roy Skeoch and another cousin, John Skeoch, loved patrolling the side roads of Nickel Township hunting groundhogs with the help of a car and a couple of rifles. In the 1950’d there were lots of ground hogs. Not so today.
They were the closest of friends. Can you imagine meeting two teen agers with rifles doing the today?
Roy Skeoch made secret tunnels by carefully arranging new mown bailed hay in the gigantic Skeoch barn. The tunnels ledto a hidden room under the hay bales. “Crawl in here…I have a secret room.” Crawling was frightening. Whatif the bales collapsed. Some dead cousins would be found. Sure enough Roy had his very private fort.Roy Skeoch developed a taste for beer about the time.. Hence the need for a secret room.Roy Skeoch was creative. One summer day we went for a swim in the huge Bellwood Quarry. Roy wasthere ahead of us floating on a tractor tube with a long rope attached to it. Why a rope? Roy liked cold beer.So he had a pail full of beer hanging deep down in the ice cold quarry water. When needed he pulled up the rope. We spent theafternoon diving under the tube to reach Roy’s beer supply. We never succeeded.
Roy had a devil may care smile…especially used when up to his usual tricks.Roy Skeoch had sisters.. Lots of them…Margie, Pattie, Sandy, Joan and Janette. He was the only malesired by Uncle Archie. As such he may have been spoiled a bit by his mother, Aunt Mabel.He was certainly his mothers pet. She ignored all his devil may care activities,Roy Skeoch loved hunting and fishing rather than working nine to five. “Alan, do you want to see my bigfish tank….I keep big trout there.” And sure enough there was a dark room in the stable with an immensefish tank where Roy kept his huge trout alive…a dark room where Roy showed me the trout with a flashlight.They were over two feet long…or seemed so. And Angry.Roy Skeoch was not a farmer. Had he been so he would have inherited the Skeoch home farm. But he hadno interest in the endless back breaking work of farming when the return was near the poverty line. He helpedUncle Norman when there was a critical need but only when it served Roy’s interest such as building the hay bail hideout/Roy Skeoch never seemed to have a steady girlfriend until he got to New Zealand and met Anna.Perhaps girls realized that Roy was just a little too unconventional.Roy Skeoch left school early as mentioned earlier. The job market in Fergus was limited. One of his firstjobs was with the Tweddle Chicken Hatchery where Roy had the unpleasant job of ’sexing chicks’. I askedhim how to sex chicks, “Farmers only want hens, Roosters are no good. My job was to sort males andfemales.” What happened to the males.? “I threw them live into the furnace.” Was this true? Or wasit just Roy telling a story? Perhaps you can tell me if this story is true. What happens to the male chicks?Roy Skeoch did find a good job in Fergus working for a company that made heavy industrial cables.I am not sure what he did for this company…perhaps a machinist. When the company shifted businesshalfway around the world to New Zealand he was told he could keep his job if he could get to NewZealand at his own expense. Uncle Norman gave Roy a one way ticket.Roy Skeoch thought New Zealand was a bit of heaven on earth. He could hunt and fish as much as hewaned. I am not sure how long he remained employed making industrial cables.Roy Skeoch met Anna and they married. Roy loved the Maorii lifestyle. I am not sure if hebecame a dancer with tongue extended as Maori males were won’t to do.
He probable would rather go fishing with his fishing rod and a pail attached to a long piece of rope.Roy Skeoch is buried in a typical Maori gravel. The surname SKEOCH is given prominence.So much so that tourists must think Skeoch is Polynesian word.Almost 30 years ago, Marjorie, Andrew and I booked a flip to New Zealand. Part of our purpose was toconnect with Roy’s New Zealand family. We met his wife Anna who showed us around Rotorua includingRoy’s grave. Roy’s daughter took a day off school to meet us. Roberta may have been 14 or so at thetime. She and Andrew got along very well. When we left Roberta gave Andrew a necklace with a tooth orbone attached. Andrew wore the necklace for some time.
Sadly Roy’s son, Richard was crushed while working under a car. The jack slipped I Believe..
Roberta Skeoch and her daughters met our granddaughter Molly yesterday. (February 21, 2023)
RENEWING CONNECTIONS:
In my mind I can see Roy clearly. He laughed a lot in the face of adversity. The course of his life
was changed by an error with a skeleton key.
I am not sure how much they know about their father, Roy Skeoch, so I have written some of thefragments of his life that I remember. just fragments but perhaps enough for the girls tobe amused by Roy. He was certainly amusing. For me he was a cousin I could never forget.I believe that Roy found his little bit of heaven with the Maori people of New Zealand.
Molly Skeoch from Canada with Roberta Skeoch of New Zealand…Maori heritage. Also picture of Roberta when we visited decades ago.
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The Māori are the native Polynesian people of New Zealand. The ancestors of the Māori originated from south-east Asia. Some historians trace these early settlers as migrating from today’s China. However, more commonly, the indigenous Māori are believed to have come from Haiwaiki, an island or group of islands in Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean. Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer, noticed that the kumara, or the sweet potato, originated in central South America. This was the staple cultivated food crop of the Māori. Along with the very distinct similarities between the Māori language and the culture and those of Polynesia, such as the Cook Islands, Hawaii, and Tahiti, scholars were led to believe that the Māori came from Haiwaiki. It is not possible to locate Haiwaiki on a modern-day map, however.
According to tradition, the first explorer to arrive in Aotearoa, the Māori name for New Zealand, was Kupe. This mythical Polynesian navigator used the stars and ocean currents as his directional guides, and ventured across the Pacific on his voyaging canoe or waka hourua. Ethnologists estimate he arrived in Aotearoa around 925 CE. The first mass arrival of Polynesian settlers, known as the Great Fleet, brought the Māori to Aotearoa in several waves. Modern scholars estimate this happened between 1250 and 1300.
After living over several centuries in isolation, the Polynesian settlers established a new culture known as the “Māori,” with their own language, mythology, and arts and crafts. The Māori were expert hunters and fishermen, so their most notable crafts include making stone adzes (cutting tools), weaving fishing nets from flax, and carving fishhooks from stone and bone. Tribal groups were also formed based on Polynesian social customs. Warfare between these tribes was also common. Māori warriors were fierce and fearless – they built numerous weapons from stone and bone to be used in hand-to-hand combat. Training occurred from a young age to prepare children for future conflict, which was usually over territory.
It is when the Europeans arrived in New Zealand from the seventeenth century that enormous change was brought to the Māori way of life; they began adopting aspects of Western society and implementing them into their own lives. At the beginning, relations between the Māori and the Europeans were solid – the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, allowing both cultures to live alongside each other amicably in a British colony. Tensions began to rise over disputed land sales some two decades later, which led to major conflict. It was only by the twentieth century that the Māori began to recover.
Roberta’s daughterssecond from left to right..Hinepau, Teina, Amonhia
RE THE HOT POOL
Yes the hot pool is called the Hirere- which means waterfall. It was and still today, is a communal tribal bath. Stand under that waterfall and be treated to a hot thermal massage like no other!
Dad loved the hirere. We used to go most evenings- preferring that to the bath in our house. It played an important role in keeping everyone in touch as we would meet different uncles and aunties, cousins etc, everyone catching up, sharing news, making plans, laughing, arguing, gossiping more laughing and basically keeping connected. Dad was also very useful, being so pale of skin- he glowed in the moonlight which helped me find my towel and clothes 😄 (no electricity or roof on the bathhouse )
As for me, I am still living in Rotorua. Sadly- my Mum passed away just 5 weeks ago. We buried her next to Dad on the first day of our national lock down so it was extremely intimate and nothing like the usual 3 day tangihanga/funeral ceremony which would have been held had circumstances been ‘normal’. It was unexpected as she suffered a stroke. She has had health issues for almost two decades now so I am relieved that she suffers no more and she will be glad to be reunited with Dad and Rich.
Me, I have three daughters: and one grand daughter who all live with me and their father Te Rama. My eldest daughter was supposed to be moving to London next month however that is obviously on hold for the while. My middle child is a Mum to our 3 year old moko (grandie) and my youngest daughter is just outta high school studying Marine Science. I work as an education lecturer at the local Polytechnic training teachers. This lock down has forced us to go online and together with the fact that I was on bereavement leave for the first two weeks- I am extremely behind and super busy learning new technology to turn my face to face classes into engaging online learning.. A challenging time for all of us.
My brother Richard has two sons- one who was born 6 months after he died. Lincoln is older and Richie is the younger one. Surreal to think that my birth family- the one that I learnt what it means to be a family- have all moved on to the next stage without me- but fortunately they left me in good stead to love and care for my own family and I expect them to provide me with great fanfare when I get there! 😉
Gosh- I can hear my email going crazy in the background. I apologize for the brevity of my email. I loved your story about Dad and look forward to finding out about all the family. Just fascinating and a great idea!
As you my have read- I was able to come to Canada a few years ago. I spent a week with Aunt Sandy in Calgary before flying on to a conference in Toronto. I was able to hire a car and squeeze a trip to Fergus in to spend a few hours with Uncle Earl. The trip was a very short one and I was due to return to Calgary this June. I would love to come back to Ontario and spend sometime hearing your stories in person.
I have just found Andrew on facebook and added him. Don’t know why I never thought to do that before? I don’t post much but still be good to hear from him.
Well I have a zoom meeting (a sign of the covid-times) in 25minutes so I’d better get ready to allay some student fears about assessments and cancelled practicums. Yay for me! hehe
Here are a few more pics (cos they are much more fun to look at!)
WHO MADE THE SKELETON KEY TO THE GYM?
(Small events often have big consequences)
OWEN TOWNSEND WROTE:
Yes, Roy and I had lots of back & forth visiting & sleepovers in the high
school years
The story that springs to mind happened at Fergus High maybe in grade 9
or 10 ?
Our favorite way to spend noon-hours was playing basketball in the gym
The rules called for boys & girls to get the gym fo noon hours on
alternate days
– 2 doors leading to gym from boys dressing rooms & girls dressing rooms
– either boys or girls door locked depending on the alternate day
But girls did not often use the gym at noon & Roy had a skeleton key
– so we used it, not sure how many times before we got caught ?
And I was the 1st one to be called into the principle’s office
– Mr. Stewart (or was it Stuart) was an ex 2nd world war army officer
(very strict & rules based)
– so he grilled me & asked where I got the skeleton key
– and I confessed that Roy had the key
– I was sent home, until further notice
Then Roy was interviewed … admitted he made the key,
can’t remember when Roy quit high school, but might have been at that time
I don’t imagine Roy ate humble pie & asked to be readmitted
Owen