Former CHB College principal Bob Foster 'a scholar and a gentleman'

Bob Foster

Bob Foster, former principal of Central Hawke's Bay College, died recently in Napier. He was widely known as a scholar and a gentleman.

Bob spent 40 years in education, over half of them in Central Hawke's Bay, where he was a real pillar of the community.

He always wanted to be a teacher, and after training college and some war service in New Zealand, he was briefly a relieving teacher of English and Latin at Feilding Agricultural High School in 1947. He was remarkably successful – one of his cricket XI became an All Black, and a Latin pupil became a professor of chemistry.

After an early stint as a boarding housemaster at Wanganui Collegiate, he joined the staff of the Waipawa DHS in 1953 teaching English and French, and coaching rugby and cricket. He then spent a year at Colenso HS in Napier, then on to CHB College in 1960 as head of English and French until 1963. At the college he met and married Jennifer Wohlers, who was also on the staff.

Bob and Jenny went to Auckland in 1962 where he was appointed HOD English and Languages at Avondale College, and where he completed his MA part-time, before going to Gore HS as deputy principal in 1966.

In February 1970 they returned to Waipukurau for Bob to become the second principal of CHB College, where he served for 13 years during a time when old values were being questioned and youth was encouraged to take a more active and vocal interest in the future.

It was a time when secondary schools were under considerable pressure to change their curriculum and social attitudes.

Bob thought that the chief joys of being a principal were the chances to be useful to people, and to create a school climate conducive to bringing out the best in everybody. He was deeply aware of the weight and worry of responsibility, and he was occasionally fretful, but he gained real pleasure in working with and serving the community of pupils, parents and staff.

While Bob welcomed the development of a more balanced curriculum, and was a real pioneer of transition education, he was concerned that the 3Rs were being neglected, and that vocational subjects like maths and science were squeezing out his beloved humanities.

He was very keen to preserve the traditional and cultural aspects of education, and to provide a balanced diet which would equip pupils best for life after school.

He enjoyed leading a happy and busy school with a great atmosphere in the staffroom. He supported and adored Fryer Cup, the college's unique annual inter-house music festival, and he was a great lover of Gilbert and Sullivan. He championed all aspects of school culture, especially music, and when the music suite he had campaigned for was finally completed in 1984 it was named in his honour.

Bob valued prizegivings too because they were necessary occasions of dignity and ceremony, and the chance to showcase the strengths of the school for the local community. During his time, he supervised the building of the GS Sharp school library and the wharewananga, Te Kupenga a Te Huki.

At 58, and with a successful 40-year career in education behind him, Bob's life changed tack. He resigned as principal and he and Jenny moved to Napier, but far from retiring, he then set off to Dunedin to train for the Presbyterian ministry at Knox College.

He served as a Presbyterian minister for about 25 years, often coming back to Central Hawke's Bay to see his many friends.