'There is a hole in our family'

Kevin Francis Keane died on Boxing Day as he headed back to Mount Maunganui to spend New Year's Eve with his younger brother Maurice and sister-in-law Gloria. Photo / Supplied

Mount Maunganui couple Maurice and Gloria Keane desperately waited for news after learning a man travelling in a hired rental car had been killed on SH2, Whakamarama.

Only to learn his 71-year-old older brother Kevin Francis Keane, who was heading back to the Mount to spend New Year's Eve with them after visiting relatives in Auckland was the driver.

Mr Keane's rented Nissan collided with another Mazda heading north at about 2.15pm on Boxing Day.

The Omokoroa couple in their 70s injured in the crash remain in Tauranga Hospital.

Maurice Keane, 66, said he first learned of the crash from a report on the Bay of Plenty Times website and their hearts sank. "I remember saying to myself 'oh no, please no', and I rang Auckland to check what time Kevin had left, and called the police and left a message to ring me back and also phoned the hospital accident and emergency."

Mr Keane said several minutes later police rang him back with the news.

Since the crash Mr Keane has made contact with the daughter of the Omokoroa couple who lives in Bethlehem and they had talked and he continues to get regular updates about her parents' condition.

"We are all praying for their speedy recovery," he said.

Mr Keane said the crash was still being investigated by police. "Kevin's death has left a huge hole in our family and seriously affected another family too ... Yes, my brother was killed but there are also two other people still in hospital."

Mr Keane said New Year's Eve celebrations would never be the same again, as he and his older brother came from a close-knit family, and his brother and his late wife Kaye had always spent their New Year's Eve with them.

Mr Keane met his late wife in Thames in 1968 and the couple married in Auckland in 1970. Kaye and Maurice's wife Gloria were next-door neighbours at the time. "My brother was a quietly spoken loving dad, big brother and poppa to his four grandchildren," Maurice said.

Hamilton-born Kevin Keane is the second son of a family of six children - his father was a teacher at White Hall School, near Cambridge where Mr Keane did his early schooling.

His mother was an office administrator. Leaving school at 15, Mr Keane joined the New Zealand Army as a signaller, serving 20-odd years, including a stint in Malaya. After leaving the army he worked a variety of jobs. He spent his last few years before his retirement in 2012 working as a supervisor at Blue Bird factory in Manukau.

After Mr Keane's wife Kaye died in April 2012, he relocated to Timaru where his eldest daughter Stephanie and her husband David Batchelor and their children Liam and Emma live.

Mr Keane, who was a keen gardener turned an almost barren section of his new Timaru home, into the most fabulous "greenhouse of colour" with lovely roses, and other flowers, his brother said.

Mr Keane is also survived by his other daughter Kylie who lives in Australia and stepdaughter Kelly and his nieces and nephews. A service for Mr Keane will be held at St Mark's Parish, Pakuranga today. His late wife was also buried in Pakuranga.