The late Liz Berry

Even the retirement cottage she and her husband Des lived in overlooked the playing fields at Kerikeri High School; the presence of the students providing a welcome backdrop and reminder of the contributions they both made to their vocation over the years.

Education is where it all started for this couple. Liz met Des while teaching in Palmerston North, shortly after graduating from teachers training college. He arrived at the school to talk about a physical education festival he was arranging and, as the youngest member of staff, she was nominated to lead her school’s involvement.

“I remember being a bit taken aback by the assumption that because I was the youngest I was best suited to the project,” Liz said. “But of course it worked out very well for us both in the end.”

Teaching was an ongoing passion for Liz. There was something about the ‘worthwhile-ness’ of it all that appealed to her nature.

“It’s hard work and the emotional investment is huge,” she said. “But the sense of accomplishment, of contribution, more than makes up for this.”

By way of example she pointed to an Italian student she and Des hosted while the student was in Kerikeri as part of a student exchange programme overseen by their son, himself a teacher and director of international students at Kerikeri High School.

“We found ourselves having to be quite strict with this lass; we had to lay down the law on quite a few occasions about what she was allowed to do and what she wasn’t. We thought we had really cramped her style during her time with us but at the end of her time in NZ she was asked what her favourite part had been and she said it had been the home-stay experience.

“That was a huge thrill. And an endorsement of our view that young people actually appreciate boundaries and structure. Of course they’re going to push at these on a regular basis to see what they can get away with but, at the end of the day, they’re happy to have a home environment that is stable and consistent, and where they can retreat to when they need to recharge.”

This was the philosophy they applied to an unexpected turn of events that came to pass just as the youngest of their four children was leaving home. They became the guardians of three children whose parents - close family friends - passed away.

“These kids lost their father in an accident and, some years later, their mother through cancer. We had been asked by their mother to be their guardians if anything happened to her and so, when she died, they came to live with us. It was a big change at that stage in our lives but the children needed a home and we were happy to provide that.”

So the couple became guardians to a first-year uni student and two teenage boys. It was an eye-opener.

“Everybody had a lot of adjusting to do, including our own children, but we all pulled together and made it happen for each other. There were so many brilliant moments but, for us, the most rewarding part of the story happened long after they had left home and it became clear that we had earned their love and respect.

“One day I got a call from one of them - completely out of the blue - to thank me for looking after them. It was unexpected and unnecessary. But so incredibly heart-warming to realise that, yes, we had made more bearable the horrible situation these kids had found themselves in.”

The realisation was repeated on their 50th anniversary when Liz and Des were surrounded by their family. 

“One of our ‘second set’ couldn’t make it but sent flowers along with the most incredibly heartfelt and heart-warming note. And it made us realise that while you don’t parent, teach or care for young people for acknowledgement or any other kind of return, it’s absolutely lovely when it comes back in that way.”

With education such a constant theme in their lives the Berrys surprised themselves when they decided they’d give private enterprise a whirl. Waving goodbye to classrooms, teaching rosters and parent/teacher meetings they jumped straight into the deep-end of the hospitality sector by buying a motel in Thames.

“This was just before the global financial crisis in 2008 and the motel sector was humming,” Liz said. “Lots of sales rep traffic into the Coromandel as well as the holiday traffic. The place was bursting at the seams and a really good investment.”

What the two teachers hadn’t reckoned on was the all-absorbing nature of owning a motel.

“We were working morning noon and night. Literally all hours of the day and the night. And as a motelier you can never leave the place - it’s the most constant drag imaginable on your private and social life.”

Fortunately, a couple of customers liked the place so much that they bought it. And in the nick of time. Because within a few weeks the world started imploding with the fall-out from the GFC and the bottom fell out of the Thames motel business.

Travel was another of Liz’s great passions. But she and Des liked their travel a little on the raw and unvarnished side.

“I just love the huge array of different experiences that travel brings,” she explained. “The food. The wine. The people. But to fully appreciate a place you have to get right into it.”

By that she meant… youth hostels! And lots of them. Everywhere! Some of her fondest memories were of backpacking trips around Europe, staying at hostels wherever they went.

“We were the oldest people in the hostels by a country mile, competing with all the beautiful young things for hot-water showers and cooking space in the kitchen. But they were always incredibly helpful and hospitable - perhaps we reminded them of their own parents, or even grand-parents! Sadly we couldn’t party with them as hard as they might have liked - we were mostly in bed, recovering, by 8pm. We walked ourselves off our feet every day for about a month!”

Liz was one of Kerikeri Retirement Village’s youngest residents. She and Des arrived in 2015 and, sadly, his health declined over the years.

One of the reasons Liz and Des decided to settle in the Village was the existence of a service called Village Support, a home support service provided by the Village that steps in to provide care and help in the home when you need it.

“When I fell ill they were amazing; not only did they look after Des while I was in hospital but they also took care of me when I returned. Coming home and straight into the care of these lovely people was such a relief.” 

It was nothing less than she deserved after years of sacrifice and care for others. Liz was an inspiration and we were lucky to have her in our little community.