John William HOPKIRK & Shirley Patricia HIGGS

John William HOPKIRK was the first child John Joseph HOPKIRK & Celia Mary FORD

John was born 26 July 1926 in Makahu, Taranki, New Zealand

John, along with his brothers Jim, Don and Eb all worked as farmers in Makahu.

On 31 March 1951 John married Shirley Patricia HIGGS. Shirley was the daughter of Lil and Charlie HIGGS of Stratford and New Plymouth, respectively.

They resided at the farm house at 1 Murcott Road in Makahu.

There was a hedge along the edge of the property and John stopped trimming it. The "hedge" became trees, and some of them were wiped out by a fire. After 60 years of growth the remaining trees were felled around 2013. This produced some timber, and John's son was able to turn a bowl from that timber.

For a brief time John became the manager of a farm at Puniwakau, which is just a few Kms away from the Makahu farms on the loop road past the Makahu School.

Around 1956 the family moved to Ararata, in southern Taranaki, near Hawera. It was there the family was living when in October 1967 John became ill and was sent to hospital for examinations. His son was in boarding school in New Plymouth at the time. John was eventually diagnosed with lung cancer, and sent to Wellington Hospital, in Wellington and a lung was removed.  There was much dispute at the time about whether smoking might have caused the cancer, as the medical opinion was very divided. John mentioned that all his peers in the hospital who were suffering from lung cancer all smoked, and he was convinced smoking was the cause of his cancer. Subsequently almost everyone else in the family, who smoked, quit.
After recuperating from the removal of his lung, John returned to the farm at Ararata, but quickly knew he could no longer continue farming because he was not able to work at the level he was used to and expected of himself. John and Shirley decided to move to New Plymouth where their son and daughter would be attending school. Their children converted from boarding school pupils to day pupils as of May 1968 holidays. Later in the year John's cancer was discovered in a routine check-up and just Shirley was told his condition was terminal. John spent longer and longer stintys in hospital having tests and by October of 1968 he was constantly in the hospital. In late November of 1968 John came out of the hospital "to see the new house" that Shirley and the children had moved to a couple weeks previously. John was very frail, but walked as far as the car shed where he told his children he was dying. In his last weeks John asked those he chose to "carry the box", and he was recognised for his courage in approaching his end.
John passed away on 20 December 1968 and the family had to hasten to bury John before Christmas. He was buried at the New Plymouth Awanui Cemetery. A memorial baptismal font ws put in the church at Strathmore by John parents, and after the church was closed, the font was give to his son.
By this time John's younger brother, the third son, was living in the Murcott Road house and raising his own family. John's son would spend most of his school and university holidays there with his Uncle and family, having the fun and privilege of watching their children grow through his many frequent visits. 

Shirley Walsh, (formerly Hopkirk) (nee Higgs) died peacefully at Pohlen Hospital in Matamata on September 13, 2020, aged 90. Loved only daughter of Lil and Charlie Higgs (of Stratford and New Plymouth), and mother of Colin Hopkirk (Napier), and Dianne Hopkirk (Binalong, NSW), and grandmother of their children Gemma, Joseph and the late Nicholas, and Daniel, and great grandmother of Elodie. Loved by them and her 'little sis' Mary Atkinson and brother-in-law Don and Eila Hopkirk, and her cousins Kas, Lindsay and Rodney, and others who knew her. Ashes to be interred with husband John Hopkirk in Awanui Cemetery, New Plymouth.


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This page was last updated on 26 September 2020