John and Noeline Williams’ legacy recognised
Dorothy Thorpe and her brother Andy Williams with a photo of their father. Photo: Neil Wilson.
Richard and Noeline Williams’ “huge contribution” to this community in the 1980s and 90s are in the spotlight.
Richard John Williams, known as John, was the Anglican vicar here between 1984 and 1991. He and his wife Noeline were involved in the development of the Golden Bay Community Workers, our community’s Meals on Wheels scheme, the return of the blood bank visits, and Te Whare Mahana.
The Reverend Williams died earlier this year and his daughter, Dorothy Thorpe of Clifton, graciously agreed to speak a little about her parents’ community-building efforts as a way of honouring their work here.
“My father was a man who got onto things and saw them through,” said Mrs Thorpe. “Both Mum and Dad came to know God for themselves in a personal and very real sense, so their service to the community was a natural outcome of their faith. His was a deep faith, rooted in action. He liked to see it lived out; it wasn’t a head thing. His theology was a concept he lived out. He was especially compassionate and had a real heart for people. He spent a lot of time counselling and listening, especially around bereavement.”
People who knew Reverend Williams have said he was a tremendously committed and focused person who worked tirelessly and collaboratively.
“He was practical and inclusive,” said Mrs Thorpe. “When he did something, he did it very well. He recognised various needs in this community and worked out how to act to meet those needs.” As the cement works at Tarakohe had then recently closed, there was anxiety among residents about the fabric of the Golden Bay economy and community. Mrs Thorpe said that at that time Golden Bay was “isolated in terms of mentality as well as geographically,” and that its isolation posed some problems.
Reverend Williams was a trained accountant before joining the ministry, and people say he brought that skill and tidiness of mind to his work with people and organisations.
“When we were tidying up after his funeral earlier this year we found he’d kept so much stuff. There were seven very tidy stacks of the church newsletters he’d written, one for each year he was the vicar here.”
Sheryl Nalder was appointed to the Golden Bay Community Workers by the management committee on which Reverend Williams served. He was her supervisor and in charge of funding applications when she began working there.
“He was very people-focused and very wise. He had his eye on the best interests of Golden Bay. I’d say he was immersed in the social needs of the Bay.” He was a visionary, said Sheryl, in the sense that he could “see things the way they were, see what could happen and see what needed to be done to get there.”
Long-time local Dot Scott, with the help of June Hodgkinson, helped deliver the very first Meals on Wheels in Golden Bay “sometime in the mid-80s”. She was a good friend of Noeline Williams who, alongside her husband, was instrumental in implementing the scheme.
“Noeline was a love. She was a little woman who was so good-hearted she would do anything for you.”
Dorothy Thorpe agrees, saying their home was often “like a railway station, you’d never know who was going to appear and how long they’d stay.”
Through all her husband’s extraordinary community service, Noeline remained “the rock of the house” said Mrs Thorpe.
“She tended to work in the background but they worked very much as a team. Mum was the stability centre to our home and that flowed into the church too. She had a really good listening ear, especially to women.”
When Mrs Williams became ill and died in 1991, Reverend Williams moved to Nelson and worked in the diocesan office for a while, before returning to the ministry in Greymouth, Murchison, and Kaponga.
The legacy of this couple’s work in our community is the priceless infrastructure we sometimes take for granted, said Mrs Nalder.
“It’s hard to imagine the Bay without its community workers, Te Whare and Meals on Wheels. This community owes a lot to John and Noeline Williams and the other people they worked with.”
Neil Wilson
