{"id":23450,"date":"2023-02-23T16:18:03","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T21:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23450"},"modified":"2023-02-23T16:21:10","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T21:21:10","slug":"fwd-episode-741-tourists-to-new-zealand-must-think-skeoch-is-a-maori-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23450","title":{"rendered":"Fwd: EPISODE 741 TOURISTS TO NEW ZEALAND MUST THINK SKEOCH IS A MAORI NAME"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n


<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
EPISODE 741     TOURISTS TO NEW ZEALAND MUST THINK SKEOCH IS A MAORI NAME<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. 23, 2023<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
That is a picture of Molly and Roberta Skeoch taken yesterday near Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.<\/div>\n
(February 21, 2023).  Today\u2019s story is devoted to my cousin Roy Skeoch who is buried in a Maori gravesite<\/div>\n
surrounded by the ornamentation characteristic of Maori graves<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
So Molly and Roberta are cousins.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Let me tell you a bit about Roy Skeoch.  This will probably be the only such testimonial.  It will not be complete.<\/div>\n
Those that knew Roy could add a lot more.   Roy made a mark wherever he went.  He was a character that<\/div>\n
I will never forget.  I liked him.  Here are a few fragments of his life.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
ROY SKEOCH<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch was a devil.  You may remember he substituted horse radish for apple sauce at a Skeoch <\/div>\n
Christmas celebration because he knew mom would say , \u201cNow Eric, be sure and eat all your dinner because<\/div>\n
Aunt Mabel has worked all week to get it ready.\u201d  Roy had prepped most people at that dinner except Eric and<\/div>\n
mom.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch got booted out of Fergus District High School along with Owen Townsend (another cousin).<\/div>\n
Owen got back to school.  I am not sure that Roy ever did.  His crime?  Somehow he was able to get the<\/div>\n
master keys to the school and have them duplicated which gave Roy access to the gymnasium any time<\/div>\n
he wanted including the times reserved for girls sports.  When the principal noticed Roy and Owen playing <\/div>\n
basketball in a locked gym he called the boys to his office.  Roy admitted his guilt right away and <\/div>\n
got expelled.  He had a streak of genius that not always served him well.  Owen was also expelled.  But Owen<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

returned.  I am not sure that Roy ever did.<\/p><\/div>\n


<\/div>\n
  NOTE: (My father, Arnold \u2018red\u2019 Skeoch had also been expelled deep in the past (1917?) for a more serious offence.<\/div>\n
Red and a friend threw snowballs up under the girls outdoor backhouse.  \u201cBring your father if you want back<\/div>\n
in school,”  Dad, like Roy, never returned.  Whose offence was worse?)
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch was quick with a rifle.  One day we were walking together through Aunt Mabel\u2019s two acre<\/div>\n
garden when something moved \u2026. big thing.  \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d I asked.  Before Roy could answer he fired his cradled rifle and<\/div>\n
then answered , \u201cthat was a rabbit\u201d  He blew the poor creature to pieces.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch and another cousin, John Skeoch, loved patrolling the side roads of Nickel Township hunting ground<\/div>\n
hogs with the help of a car and a couple of rifles.   In the 1950\u2019d there were lots of ground hogs.  Not so today.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 They were the closest of friends. Can you  imagine meeting two teen agers with rifles doing the today?
<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch made secret tunnels by carefully arranging new mown bailed hay in the gigantic Skeoch barn.  The tunnels led<\/div>\n
to a hidden room under the hay bales.  \u201cCrawl in here\u2026I have a secret room.\u201d   Crawling was frightening.  What<\/div>\n
if the bales collapsed.  Some dead cousins would be found.  Sure enough Roy had his very private fort.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch developed a taste for beer about the time..  Hence the need for a secret room.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch was creative.  One summer day we went for a swim in the huge Bellwood Quarry.  Roy was<\/div>\n
there ahead of us floating on a tractor tube with a long rope attached to it.  Why a rope?  Roy liked cold beer.<\/div>\n
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 the<\/div>\n
afternoon diving under the tube to reach Roy\u2019s beer supply.  We never succeeded.   <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\n
\n
Roy had a devil may care smile\u2026especially used when up to his usual tricks.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch had sisters.. Lots of them\u2026Margie, Pattie, Sandy, Joan and Janette.  He was the only male<\/div>\n
sired by Uncle Archie.   As such he may have been spoiled a bit by his mother, Aunt Mabel.<\/div>\n
  He was certainly his mothers pet.  She ignored  all his devil may care activities,<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch loved hunting and fishing rather than working nine to five.  \u201cAlan, do you want to see my big<\/div>\n
fish tank\u2026.I keep big trout there.\u201d  And sure enough there was a dark room in the stable with an immense <\/div>\n
fish tank where Roy kept his huge trout alive\u2026a dark room where Roy showed me the trout with a flashlight.<\/div>\n
They were over two feet long\u2026or seemed so.  And Angry. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch was not a farmer.  Had he been so he would have inherited the Skeoch home farm.  But he had<\/div>\n
no interest in the endless back breaking work of farming when the return was near the poverty line.  He helped<\/div>\n
Uncle Norman when there was a critical need but only when it served Roy’s interest such as building the hay bail hideout\/<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch never seemed to have a  steady girlfriend until he got to New Zealand and met Anna.<\/div>\n
Perhaps girls realized that Roy was just a little too unconventional.   <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch left school early as mentioned earlier.  The job market in Fergus was limited.  One of his first <\/div>\n
jobs was with the Tweddle Chicken Hatchery where Roy had the unpleasant job of \u2019sexing chicks\u2019.  I asked<\/div>\n
him how to sex chicks,  \u201cFarmers only want hens,  Roosters are no good.  My job was to sort males and<\/div>\n
 females.\u201d  What happened to the males.?  \u201cI threw them live into the furnace.\u201d  Was this true? Or was<\/div>\n
it just Roy telling a story?  Perhaps you can tell me if this story is true.  What happens to the male chicks?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch did find a good job in Fergus working for a company that made heavy industrial cables.<\/div>\n
I am not sure what he did for this company\u2026perhaps a machinist.    When the company shifted business<\/div>\n
halfway around the world to New Zealand he was told he could keep his job if he could get to New<\/div>\n
Zealand at his own expense.   Uncle Norman gave Roy a one way ticket.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch thought New Zealand was a bit of heaven on earth.  He could hunt and fish as much as he<\/div>\n
waned.  I am not sure how long he remained employed making industrial cables.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch met Anna and they married.  Roy loved the Maorii lifestyle.  I am not sure if he<\/div>\n
became a dancer with tongue extended as Maori males were won\u2019t to do.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\n
\n
 He probable would rather go fishing with his fishing rod and a pail attached to a long piece of rope.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Roy Skeoch is buried in a typical Maori gravel.  The surname SKEOCH  is given prominence.<\/div>\n
So much so that tourists must think Skeoch is Polynesian word.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Almost 30 years ago, Marjorie, Andrew and I booked a flip to New Zealand.   Part of our purpose was to<\/div>\n
connect with Roy\u2019s New Zealand family.  We met his wife Anna who showed us around Rotorua including<\/div>\n
Roy\u2019s grave.  Roy\u2019s daughter took a day off school to meet us.  Roberta may have been 14 or so at the<\/div>\n
time.  She and Andrew got along very well.  When we left Roberta gave Andrew a necklace with a tooth or <\/div>\n
bone attached.  Andrew wore the necklace for some time.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
 Sadly Roy\u2019s son, Richard was crushed while working under a car.  The jack slipped I Believe..<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
Roberta Skeoch and her daughters met our granddaughter Molly yesterday. (February 21, 2023) <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
  RENEWING CONNECTIONS:  <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
In my mind I can see Roy clearly.  He laughed a lot in the face of adversity.  The course of his life<\/div>\n
was changed by an error with a skeleton key.<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
I am not sure how much they know about their father, Roy Skeoch, so I have written some of the<\/div>\n
fragments of his life that I remember.  just fragments but perhaps enough for the girls to<\/div>\n
be amused by Roy.  He was certainly amusing.   For me he was a cousin I could never forget.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I believe that Roy found his little bit of heaven with the Maori people of New Zealand.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Molly Skeoch from Canada with Roberta Skeoch of New Zealand\u2026Maori heritage.  Also picture of Roberta when we visited decades ago.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n


<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n