Newspaper Article 2006 – Nothing by halves

OBITUARY

Nothing by halves

TAMAHOU TERENCE HOUKAMAU
1943 – 2006

Musician, flooring specialist, diving instructor, waka-minder, family man – Tama Houkamau, who died at his Napier home on April 20, never did anything by halves.

Right up to the day before he went into hospital for the last time, in a courageous battle against cancer, he was working on one of his biggest flooring contracts, the new Masterton Hospital.

There was also a time in his last fortnight, when he went to price a job, riding the mobility scooter to which he had to resort as his health deteriorated.

On the weekend of his tangi at Rongomaraeroa Marae in Porangahau, he had planned to be jamming with fellow members of 1960s Central Hawke’s Bay group Hi-Fi’s Showband, who regrouped last year to honour the respected lead guitarist.

George Sidwell (pianist-now-keyboardist), bass player John Williams, and drummer Johnny Barnes were instead among the crowd saying their farewells, as were such others as Neil Sloan, Pik Atkinson, and Barry Robertshaw, from the 1970s-1980s era of Theme and Sir Duke.

Aged 63 when he died, Tama Houkamau took keenly to rejoining musician mates from 40 years ago, buying drums for the group, and his first Fender Stratocaster. Given the chance to play for friends and family at Pourerere in January, he thanked the boys for giving him a few more months.

Sloan, who as a 16-year-old drummer joined Tama Houkamau in a band called The Checkers, last year decided to establish a CHB musicians Hall of Fame, and Tama Houkamau was the first inductee.

A naturally gifted guitarist, he had performed around Porangahau as a teenager in a family band known as The Downbeats, and immediately impressed the Hi-Fi’s when he auditioned in 1963, capable of anything required in the public dance-wedding-birthday scene of the era.

The commitment was obvious when they got their big chance at The Top Hat in Napier, a clash with his marriage on November 29, 1963, to Anne Staines, a Waipukurau furniture shop owner’s daughter he met at CHB College.

After the wedding at St Peters in Waipukurau, the groom, best man George Sidwell and the rest of the six-piece headed for Napier and played, the bride waiting in the wings for her man until 1am, after the show was over and the gear loaded.

Tama Houkamau, eldest of 16 brothers and sisters, grew up with parents Te Wharu and Morehu at Mangamaire, going to school at nearby Porangahau, and then college in Waipukurau.

He worked for “the county” in the Porangahau area, before he and Anne settled in Waipukurau – Tama Houkamau – Flooring Specialist.

They took diving courses together, passed their tickets, and headed for Napier to take over the Hawke’s Bay Dive Centre, and trained hundreds in the skills of the deep.

The flooring business became Commercial Flooring Contractors Ltd, with his sons also entering the trade, specialising in large jobs, including supermarkets across the lower North Island.

His knowledge of adhesives led to him being called in to help complete the Ngati Kahungunu waka at Rongomaraeroa for the sesqui-centennial fleet at Waitangi in 1990. It was a matter of personal hurt when he found the waka, having been put in the care of the people of Wairoa, in bits deteriorating beside the Wairoa River. The carvings returned to Porangahau, and the tau rarawa (side panels) now adorn a boundary fence, a fitting backdrop as he was carried from the paepae for burial at Porangahau Urupa last Sunday.

Despite his illness, he became a member of the Maraenui Marae Establishment Trust, planning the new Pukemokimoki Marae on the outskirts of Napier.

Tama Houkamau is survived by Anne, sons Tama, Steven and Terry, and daughter Kathy, and seven grandchildren.