Michael Stephens was a well-respected volunteer firefighter from Turua.
Michael Stephens was a well-respected volunteer firefighter from Turua.
On September 23, the small village of Turua turned out in force for the Town Hall AGM and dedication of a new memorial wall, four years in the making and inspired by a long-service volunteer firefighter.
Michael Stephens had come to Turua when he was 8 and attended Turua School. His father was the local postmaster. When not crewing one of the town’s fire appliances, Stephens worked for Fonterra as a milk tanker driver, later becoming a manager.
In all, Stephens gave 29 years of service to the Turua Volunteer Brigade and for his efforts received a 25-year-long service medal at an investiture.
He died, aged 58, after an illness on June 13, 2018.
The energy behind the creation of the memorial came from Susan Taipari, who was activated by an idea from Stephens’ widow Sue Stephens to have a wall built wall to house plaques remembering him and all of Turua’s people.
Michael Stevens' grandson cut the ribbon at the unveiling.
“Sue said, ‘I think I need to start booking plaques in Ngātea’,” said Taipari, who was referencing the Hauraki Plains Memorial Wall located in Ngātea, before coming to the revelation that Turua should build its own wall of remembrance.
“Why don’t we have our own wall in Turua?” she asked.
“So I went back to the committee and said ‘are we are going to have our own memorial wall?’”
The late Huey Fisher, such a well-known Turua resident that he was affectionately known as the “Mayor of Turua”, thought the wall was a “fabulous idea” said Taipari.
“So I went to Huey and he asked me to promise to get a wall up.”
Local people rallied around to get the wall built, “[local man] Brian Wigmore donated some bricks he had lying around at home,” said Taipari, and after a bleak winter of inactivity, Hauraki firm Straightline Brick and Block Layers donated blocks and the Hauraki District Council came to the party.
“In the end, the council got right in behind us and donated some money, paid for concrete footings and we got it built,” said Taipari. It was positioned deliberately to maximise the sun.
Taipari added that Fisher made her promise to finish the wall before his own passing, and had meant for Fisher’s wife to cut the ribbon in his absence, but she tragically passed away overseas three days before the ceremony.
Post the AGM in the Town Hall, it was time to unveil the wall after a karakia. Cutting the ribbon at the event was Michael Stevens’ grandson and descendent of the late Huey Fisher and his wife. The dropping of the ceremonial cloak to reveal the plaque was done by Taipari’s grandaughters.
The people of Turua can now, for a nominal fee, have their own family’s plaques put up and on display in the town for time immemorial.
