Alan Bines remembered for unwavering service to RSA

Alan Bines. Photo / File

Alan Frederick Bines 17/12/30 - 16/09/18

Only once had Alan Bines missed raising the flag at the local Anzac Day service.

His love of the RSA and his commitment to being the RSA museum curator for 25 years is how his wife Joyce Bines says he will be remembered.

Alan passed away in Rotorua on September 16, aged 87.

He was born in Parnell, Auckland, on December 17, 1930.

He attended school in Parnell and joined the Navy when he was 15 years old, leaving at age 22 to sign up for the army.

It was not until Alan was transferred to Nelson that he met Joyce.

The year was 1958 and Alan and Joyce met at a party. Just a year later the pair were married.

Alan Bines spent most of his spare time at the RSA or near the sea. Photo/ File

The Bines' had three children; a girl and two boys, and went on to have eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Alan and Joyce moved to Rotorua in 1974 when Alan was transferred here as a salesman for Tip-Top.

He was a cheeky sort and was always "full of humour".

"He was a talker, well he had to be to be a salesman," Joyce laughed.

Alan spent a lot of time at the former Rotorua RSA and he was very generous with his time, Joyce said.

He was acknowledged for the huge number of voluntary hours he had put in over the years when he was given a Rotorua District Council annual community award in 2006 and a Queens Service Medal in 2007 for public services.

Receiving those honours were moments Alan was very proud of, Joyce said.

A scrapbook filled with the letters Alan received from Government House and pictures from the ceremony are kept under the coffee table at the Bines' home and a number of certificates are hung on the wall.

Alan Bines pictured in 2015 with some military plaques that were to be sold. Photo / File

When Alan and Joyce had any spare time they loved to spend time at the beach, either at Pukehina or Mount Maunganui.

But if he was not at the beach, out fishing or at the RSA, Alan would be in the garden.

"He spent a lot of time out there, he loved his garden," Joyce said.

A service was held in Rotorua last Wednesday and Joyce said it was "lovely", with many of his friends and family attending.

Alan and Joyce's son would be fulfilling Alan's last wish in the next couple of weeks, taking his father's ashes out on a boat in the Coromandel and scattering them at sea.

"Hopefully they catch some fish."