Les Stollery

(Note to Authors - add comments or edit body to add text)

Message from Wendy After Les's Funeral March 2019

Hi Bob & Olive

Thanks for your kind words & thoughts. We celebrated dads life yesterday with his funeral,
Wayne & I both spoke then we had Barbara Horne & Colin Chisholm speak. We had given your
email to the celebrant your email to read out as we felt it was so fitting to have the 4 families
represented & Dad would have loved this.

I believe you have a wedding anniversary coming up this weekend 68 years also - the same as
Mum & dad. Congratulations we will be thinking of you.

Regards, Wendy

Message from Bob & Olive to the Stollery's, read out at the funeral.

On 12 March 2019 at 16:10 Bob Griffin <rgriffin@exemail.com.au> wrote:

Dear Essie, Wayne, Wendy and the Stollery clan,

It’s a sad, sad day to be writing to you. We’ve lost our dear friend Les and it’s going to take a
while for the pain to ease. For you, Essie, and your family, it is so much more intense and we
send our sincere condolences.

Les, and with you Essie, was steadfast at ‘staying in touch’ over 60 years; Essie, my dear,
you two were always arm-in arm. I’ll miss his “Hi Roberty, Bob” greeting.

I first met Les in Nelson Jaycee in 1953 around the time of the Nelson-West Coast rail
closure. The Jaycees had become heavily involved in the protests, with Les in the forefront,
and we all went on the stupendous final train trip.

The Stollerys, Hornes, Chisholms and Griffins became a close group through Jaycee
events. Trevor, Ron, Les and myself were always prodding the hierarchy and had successes in
the regional debating contests.

Les and Essie you surprised us when you took on a grocery shop in Collingwood St and
delivered our weekly order at Waimea Rd. It was marvellous. Our Kiwi friends introduced us
pommies to the All Blacks phenomena and the Seddon Shield. But definitely the Jaycees was a
hub around which our social life existed in those days. Les and Ron both served as president of
Jaycee.

Life changed in 1957-58 when I went to college and became a teacher and in 1960 we left
Nelson and moved to a school in the Gisborne area. After two years I moved on and became a
reporter with the Gisborne Herald.

There I gained the experience to get a job with the Nelson Mail. I was assigned to Nelson
council meetings and ended up reporting on my two old friends, councillors Les and Trevor.
Wasn’t that a strange turn of events.

By 1971, we had settled in Sydney. After spells on the two big papers there we retired to
North Arm Cove in 1985. Essie, you and Les visited us in 2001 for our 50th wedding anniversay
with Les being the star speaker in the village hall. We also had a barbecue at the back of the
house and sat and gabbed all night.

Olive and I marvel at the fact we reached 90 last year but realised, of course, that Les had
already beaten us to that milestone.

It’s that moment when we should be having a big, big hug but we’ll imagine it instead. I've
been talking about Les with the family and we all send our love and best wishes at this
sorrowful time.

Olive and Bob

Note on photos

These were taken by Nelson Photo News around 71-72. They were on the internet. The photo
news (it was a father and son business) put up many copies of their magazine on the web as
a resource for people interested in Nelson. When each photo news came out readers could
buy photo prints of what was in the magazine. Anyone on the internet can find them. They've
been scanned to become a digital image and they look good.

Bob