Roading expert gained respect in all walks of life

Norm Wootton, left, was for many people the face of roading work in Wairarapa.

A man whose life's work as a roading expert gained him respect throughout the wider Masterton district has died.

Norm Wootton,72,was the face of the district's roading network, a man who was unafraid of rolling up his sleeves and getting the job done.

For many years he worked for Masterton County Council starting as a truck driver and over the years mastered driving all the heavy machinery.

After amalgamation was forced on local bodies throughout New Zealand in 1989, Masterton District Council came into existence combining the county with the then borough council and Mr Wootton took his expertise to the larger organisation.

Later the roading work was taken away from staff and contracted out - a change enacted amid high emotion among workers whose jobs were threatened - and Mr Wootton went on to work for Master Roads being operations manager.

Kopuaranga farmer Roddy McKenzie, who was the last county chairman before the local body merger, said Mr Wootton was a practical man endowed with plenty of common sense.

"He talked a language ratepayers could understand and won the respect of everyone he met," Mr McKenzie said.

Mr McKenzie said although Mr Wootton was a man who spoke his mind when the need arose, he never held a grudge.

"I remember when the roading contracts were lost to staff and went out to tender Norm was upset like many others but when it was all over he patted me on the back and said we would still be friends."

The two had known each other a long time, back to the days when Mr Wootton played junior rugby for Red Star Club.

"His local knowledge was outstanding.

"I recall one time when we had been carting metal for quite some distance to a job when Norm stepped in and told us about a metal pit which was a lot closer to the job and saved us a lot of work and money."

Former Masterton mayor Bob Francis said Mr Wootton was not only skilled but loyal.

"He built up a great relationship with farmers and rural people in particular and was a bit of an institution throughout the whole of the district."

Norm Wootton was educated at East School and later at Wairarapa College.

Leaving school he worked on Alf Southey's farm at Kuripuni.

He met his wife Pat who came to Masterton from Ohakune to live with her grandmother and on their first date took her to the pictures in the Regent Theatre.

Mrs Wootton recalls the film was a spine-chilling horror movie and she spent most of the time with her cardigan pulled over her face, occasionally peering out from it.

They married in 1963 and had celebrated 50 years of married life only weeks before Mr Wootton died.

He was an avid gardener, a smallbore rifle shooter with the Te Ore Ore club, and a duckshooter.

Mr Wootton loved singing and - in his earlier years dancing - and had a real soft side especially when it came to birds and animals.

His family recall many occasions when he returned home from work with an injured harrier hawk, magpie, possum or rabbit and set about returning the creatures to full health.

Each of the family pets was buried in the backyard when their life ended and each was commemorated with the planting of a tree.

He was diagnosed with cancer in early August and before his death repeatedly praised the doctors and staff at Wairarapa Hospital for their care and kindness.

Mr Wootton is survived by wife Pat, daughter Michelle and two sons Grant and Paul, along with five grandchildren.

His funeral service is being held today at Masterton Cosmopolitan Club.