Frank Beckett pictured after receiving his 60-year jewel for his service to Rawhiti Lodge in 2015. Photo / Supplied
Frank Beckett pictured after receiving his 60-year jewel for his service to Rawhiti Lodge in 2015. Photo / Supplied
Innovation, encouragement and empathy are words that have been used to describe Dannevirke identity Frank Beckett.
Frances William Beckett died at the age of 90 on January 6.
At his funeral service on January 14 work colleagues spoke of their admiration and regard for Frank.
In delivering the eulogy, Terry Hynes said it was real pleasure talk about an old friend and colleague, a vet he had worked with for more than 20 years and had known for over 50 years.
Frank was born in Oxford, North Canterbury, in 1930, the son of William John Beckett and Letitia Beckett. Frank had four sisters and two brothers.
Frank's father was born in Limerick, Ireland, emigrated to New Zealand in 1923 and started work as a teamster in Cheviot where he met and married Letitia.
Frank's father bought a 200 acre farm at Horreville, North Canterbury, in 1927 which he cropped and ran a Jersey stud. Most of the agricultural work was done with heavy horses, and so began Frank's life-long passion for horses.
Chappie the family Clydesdale whose death from colic sparked an 8-year-old Frank Beckett's desire to become a vet.
It was following the death of the family's Clydesdale horse Chappie with colic when Frank was 8 that he set his sights on becoming a vet.
In 1950 Frank passed his medical intermediate exams at Canterbury University and this enabled him to enrol at the veterinary school at Sydney University. At that stage New Zealand didn't have a vet school.
After five years' further study, Frank graduated with a degree in vet science in 1955.
He worked at the Ashburton Vet Club for a couple of months then moved to Warkworth to work for the Rodney Dairy Company Vet Club.
Frank met his wife to be Mae Nicols in Warkworth when a house call to Mae's mother to see her Persian cat set the scene for that early introduction.
In 1956 Frank returned to the Ashburton Vet Club where he was to work for six happy years and it was there that Frank and Mae married in 1957.
During those early years and throughout Frank's practice years Mae played a pivotal role helping him with his work, and caring for sick animals after hours and at weekends.
January 1962 saw Mae and Frank, along with children Robert and Janice, move to Dannevirke where Frank started the next chapter in his career with the Bush and Southern Hawke's Bay Vet Club.
Vet practice back then was very different. There were no modern drugs, and drenches and facilities such as X-ray machines were limited. But Frank was resourceful.
He would anaesthetise dogs and take them up to the local hospital to be X-rayed. He even arranged for an elephant to have its foot X-rayed on the hospital grounds.
Frank Beckett had a life-long passion for horses.
Frank was with the vet club for nine years before joining the Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) in Dannevirke as a field veterinarian. His main role was disease investigation.
In 1972 Frank, accompanied by Alan Diack, a senior livestock instructor from MAF Christchurch, went to the UK and the Republic of Ireland at the request of the Government to source new breeds of sheep to enhance and improve the national flock.
The breeds sourced were Oxford Down, Finnish Landrace, East Friesian and German White Headed Mutton.
Unfortunately, toward the end of their quarantine in New Zealand, the disease scrapie was diagnosed and the entire shipment and progeny were destroyed.
Hynes said he considered Frank to be ahead of his time in the world of vet science.
"Not only was he a very practical vet but he was a great researcher. There were no computers and no Google, everything was researched through books and scientific papers that had to be ordered from various libraries.
"Research into selenium deficiency, Brucella in sheep, salmonella and a variety of work into internal parasite control were just some of his many achievements.
"Working with Frank was a dream. He was challenging, always looking at ways of doing things better and using the team's expertise in whatever capacity they had.
"He had a wonderful empathy with the staff at MAF. He was always available to share his knowledge and his knowledge in training livestock officers in Animal Health was invaluable."
Frank went to MAF when the Government was introducing the Brucellosis eradication programme. Brucellosis is a highly-infectious disease that caused abortion in cattle.
"It was Frank's expertise and thoroughness in managing the programme that saw our area being one of the earliest to eradicate the disease in the country," Hynes said.
He retired from MAF in 1990.
In paying tribute to Frank, Nancy Wadsworth said they met when Frank interviewed her for a job as a lab technician for MAF.
"I found Frank to be a very affirming boss, an encourager who could get the best out of people.
"He was quietly spoken and when something went wrong he always said 'oh shivers' although I am told he did at times use stronger language when working with stock or doing an awkward job."
Wadsworth said Frank has been a big influence in her life and a person she had the greatest respect for.
"To me, you were an encourager, a very kind caring man who in a very understated way expressed your feelings of care and concern."
Frank is survived by Mae, his children Robert and Janice and grandchildren Samantha and Johnathan.
