Newspaper Article 2005 – Service and a helping hand

OBITUARY

Service and a helping hand

GEORGE KEARNS
1926-2005

The hungry hordes who piled off the trains from Wellington each Blossom Parade day used to beat a path straight to the place they knew they could get a slap-up breakfast.

And George Kearns would be waiting for them at The Caferama, on the corner of Karamu Road and Heretaunga Street in Hastings, along with his cook Harry Martin and wife Joan.

Mr Kearns, who died in July, ran two high-profile businesses in Hastings during his working life, and combined them with extensive professional and community work.

He and Mrs Kearns arrived in the city in 1962 from Levin, where they had run a grocery-dairy for seven years.

They opened the 150-seat Caferama, and for the next 14 years offered breakfasts, lunches, and everything in between to hungry residents and travellers alike.

At the same time they ran a takeaway bar near the hospital in Omahu Road, and catered for weddings. They were busy days.

Mr Kearns joined the promotional organisation Greater Hastings soon after his arrival, and was a member of the Hastings Retailers Association for 40 years.

He joined the Heretaunga Masonic Lodge when he was 21, and remained a member for 53 years, serving as Provincial Grand Master for Hawke’s Bay in 1995-97.

In 1970 he joined Hastings Host Lions and became president in 1981.

In 1976, he sold the Caferama and opened a toy and hobbies shop, Bunkers, across the road in Heretaunga Street.

He ran that for the next 19 years, becoming a foundation member of the Toyworld Group, and a member of the buying committee for two years.

In 2001 he signed up for training as a volunteer for Victim Support, and quickly became valued as an effective and willing, though modest, worker – someone who could be called on at any time to help anyone in a range of situations.

Mr Kearns was born in Westport in 1926, and educated at Westport State Technical School.

He went on to train as teacher in Christchurch, then worked in Westport, at Nelson Intermediate – the first intermediate school to open in New Zealand – and in Suva, Fiji.

He was a Buller rugby rep in 1946-47, and 1950-52 and went on to coach and referee various rugby teams.

Mr Kearns met his wife-to-be, Joan, in Australia, and they married in 1952.

He is survived by her and their three children, Susan, John and Jason.