Celebrating 100 active years

JACK SURMAN: Made a century this month.

ON SERVICE: Mr Surman on duty in Fiji in 1944.

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Former Hibiscus Coast postmaster John (Jack) Surman celebrated his 100th birthday on November 14 with about 60 family and friends at daughter Jacqueline's Whangaparaoa home.

He attributes his longevity to the wonderful care of daughters Carol and Jacqueline, and Dr Martin Schiebel, and until recently maintained "a whisky a day kept the doctor away".

A postmaster in Silverdale, Orewa and Waiwera in the late 1950s, Mr Surman was a founding member of the Silverdale Bowling Club and the Peninsula Golf Club, and helped develop both when they were still farmland.

Born in 1909, Mr Surman had six brothers and sisters and attended Valley Road Primary School and Seddon Tech.

In 1925 he started work as a messenger boy delivering telegrams from the Symonds St Post Office, transfering to the Northland area, Kawakawa and Wellsford, still on his telegraph bike. Then Taranaki needed his help as a relieving postmaster.

In 1938 he was postmaster at Whitianga, where he built a two-bedroom bach.

At age nine he met his wife-to-be Joan Denize in Coromandel while on holiday. It must have been love at first sight because they met up again in later years and played tennis and attended dances at Coromandel and Whitianga.

In July 1940 he married Joan in Auckland and soon after they had two daughters who both live on the Hibiscus Coast. He also has four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

During World War Two Mr Surman served in the army in Fiji as a morse code operator. He visited all the outlying islands, including Tonga, Samoa, New Caledonia, Soloman Islands and Guadalcanal, ensuring the mail and important information got through.

The war ended as he was about to be posted to the Middle East. Mr Surman is now the oldest member of the Silverdale RSA and Silverdale Kings Empire Veterans.

He returned to his postmaster role from 1945 to 1969.

Retiring in 1969 to Mt Albert, the family enjoyed trips to their Red Beach bach.

Mr Surman played many sports over the years, including hockey, badminton, tennis, cricket, rugby, golf and bowls. In later years he played snooker and was fond of trout fishing, whitebaiting and duck shooting. He also played the ukulele, banjo and harmonica.

A "Jack of all trades", as a wireless technician he was called on many occasions to fix the old valve radios, especially those in cowsheds because farmers said the cows would not release their milk unless the radio was playing. One of his radios still remains in a Te Mata cowshed.

Mr Surman could build it, fix it, mend it, and invent it. He was always around to lend a helping hand.

After his wife's death from breast cancer, Mr Surman shifted back to Hilltop Red Beach in 1995, where he rejoined the Silverdale Bowling Club, catching up with many of his old mates and competing in tournaments including his favourite crayfish or smoked fish tournament at Leigh.

Up until a few weeks ago, Mr Surman lived at home and still drove his car into town for shopping. He has since moved to Beachview House, a Red Beach rest home.

- © Fairfax NZ News