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It has taken 67 years but at last an honours board immortalising 23 of the the district’s World War II soldiers has been placed in St Alban’s, a little Anglican church in Pauatahanui, Porirua.
The project first saw the light of day in 1950, but it did not come to fruition because the Reverend Maurice Pirani, the vicar at the time, refused to allow the names of the Catholics to be included in the list of those honoured.
So the plans were shelved and forgotten, hidden away in the church’s archives until 2010, when Margaret Blair came across them while she was sorting paperwork.
The heart rimu honours board has been made to the original 1950 design by David Kirkland.
It was funded by Plimmerton’s St Theresa’s Catholic Church, Porirua RSA, Pauatahanui Residents’ Association, and families whose names are on the board.
Ruth Galloway, the daughter of one of the men honoured, said she was immensely proud to see the name of her father, Wallace Galloway, carved into the wood.
“It was very emotional for me and my brothers. I know my dad would have been proud his name was up there.”
St Alban’s Church,was built in 1898. It was the second church to be built in Pauatahanui.
The building is on the old site of the Matai Paua pā, that was built by Te Rangihaeata, the Ngāti Toa leader in 1846.
St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Pauatahanui was built in 1878.
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Image: stuff.co.nz
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