Owen David Herbert

Owen Herbert was my cousin and, alas, we never met. He didn’t directly know many in his widely spread family because he was confined to institutional care for much of his life. He was the oldest of David and Wilma Herbert’s two children. Owen was greatly loved by the family he knew, and also by those who didn’t ever have the opportunity to engage with him.
The Herberts were widely known in the south of New Zealand. His father delivered fuel oil to farms and businesses between Invercargill and Queenstown for most of his working life. He had a warm sense of humour. David volunteered to serve in the Royal New Zealand Navy in World War Two, where he was sent to Japan in 1945 just as the fighting ended. Owen's grandfather, George Herbert, was a long-serving skipper of TSS Earnslaw, the iconic steamship which serviced farms along the shores of Lake Whakatipu. He served at Gallipoli.
Owen’s family owe thanks to all those who have cared for him over the years. I never met him, but imagine Owen as having a generous manner and a love for sport. He would have enjoyed a chat, and likely had an air of mischief about him. Anyway, that is how I choose to remember him.

Owen was my cousin, although we never met he was never forgotten. Sadly it was one of those things that we never met and do regret it. if he was anything like his father, he would have had a great sense of humour and been a bit of a character. Though we never met, one day I believe we will.