QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY HONOURS
Unsung hero finally gets sung
OPOTIKI'S Fraser Cameron has been awarded the Queen's Service Medal for services to the community and theatre.
THE Opotiki De Luxe Theatre, the scouts, the RSA, St John Ambulance, the A&P Association and the Cameron Clan are just some of the organisations that have benefited from Mr Cameron's generosity over the years.
Close friend Don Paynter said that Mr Cameron "forgot to put the labour on the bills" if it was an organisation that had requested electrical work.
Sometimes, though, the family lost out.
His daughter-in-law Irene Cameron said she and her husband Stu had purchased a pallet of concrete that they would use at their home, meanwhile storing it at the back of the electrical shop.
"When we came to fetch it, Fraser had taken it down to the theatre and used it there," she said.
"He would always disappear down to the theatre."
Born in Gisborne in 1930, Mr Cameron moved to Opotiki in 1955.
Before moving here, following the completion of his apprenticeship, Mr Cameron had sailed for five years on the combined passenger and cargo ship Rangitoto, working for the New Zealand Shipping Company.
"Then I got married and came ashore," he said.
"I worked for 12 months at the Whakatane board mill and then I worked for the power board as an electrician for five years" (in Opotiki).
At Christmas 1960, Mr Cameron started his own company and since that time he has been involved with numerous local and community organisations in Opotiki.
He has been involved with the Opotiki and Districts 10,000 Club, which has promoted Opotiki and the surrounding district since 1960. He served his first term as president from 1974 to 1976, held a second term in the 1990s, and remains on the committee today.
He joined the Opotiki Chamber of Commerce in 1964 to encourage growth in Opotiki businesses and community. He chaired the Nukutere Scout committee.
Mr Cameron was a founding member of the Opotiki De Luxe Theatre Community Trust in 1979 and has been involved in several capacities, including providing maintenance and lighting for the theatre, and serving as treasurer, secretary and president of the trust.
He is also a trustee of the Opotiki Drama and Education Charitable Trust, which owns and operates lighting and sound equipment on behalf of the community.
He was president of the Opotiki Rotary Club from 1985 to 1986 and 2005 to 2006, and club treasurer from 2016 to 2018.
Mr Cameron is a member of the Returned and Services Association and for the past 30 years he has provided the sound system used for the Opotiki Anzac Day parades and Armistice Day services.
The St John Ambulance used his post office box for its mail while he collected fees for the ambulance association.
Mr Paynter said Mr Cameron had also done lots of electrical work for the A&P Association's showground.
"He's also a past national president of the Cameron Clan of New Zealand," he said.
Mr Cameron said that while he knew "one lady who always said I should be recognised," he did not "feel I need that sort of thing myself". "I consider myself a very lucky boy," he said.
While running his company he imported seven electricians from Britain to the business.
"There was a shortage of electricians in those days," he said.
"All but a few of them are still in New Zealand."
While being involved with Rotary, he has been on-call duty at the dairy factory.
Just as one of the Rotary meetings was about to commence, Mr Cameron remembers being called out to an electrical calamity at the dairy factory.
"I called them to let them know I was going to be late, asking them to keep my dinner for me," he said. "Which they did. I got my dinner some six weeks later, at the next meeting."
Source: Opotiki News, www.thebeacon.co.nz, Tuesday, June 4, 2019, page 4.
Final curtain call for theatre stalwart
A MUCH-LOVED and community-oriented man was farewelled at the Opotiki De Luxe Theatre in Opotiki yesterday.
Fraser Logan Cameron QSM pulled in a full house at his last appearance at his much-loved theatre.
Having started his electrical business in Opotiki in 1959, his last day of work at his business was Friday, August 16. He died 11 days later.
Mr Cameron was a founding member of the Opotiki De Luxe Theatre Community Trust in 1979 and has been involved in several capacities, including providing maintenance and lighting for the theatre, and serving as treasurer, secretary and president of the trust.
He was president of the Opotiki Rotary Club from 1985 to 1986 and from 2005 to 2006, and club treasurer from 2016 to 2018.
He was also a past national president of the Cameron Clan of New Zealand.
Mr Cameron worked for several different companies, fixing their electricity and being available for call-outs any time of day.
Which all goes some way to explaining the many and varied community members attending his funeral.
Daughter Mary-Anne said her father had started working at the age of 15, also taking on night school to learn mathematics, which then enabled him to start his electrician apprenticeship.
"He got a gold medal as an apprentice," she said.
Fast forward to 2019 and Mr Cameron was awarded a Queen's Service Medal, but did not quite make it to the investiture ceremony.
Opotiki Mayor John Forbes, during the funeral, said Mr Cameron had a sharp mind and that he was "a community asset".
"In the council we deal with all sorts of assets, but one of the most important assets are our people."
"It has been bestowed on me to, on behalf of the Governor-General, present Fraser with his Queen's Service Medal."
Many lovely anecdotes were recounted by family members, including being asked to do electrical stocktaking, witnessing Mr Cameron's trait of helping people in need, which possibly included talking to Jehovah's Witnesses.
From youngsters, a common theme of a stern man wearing white overalls who had extraordinary skills with a wooden, extendable ruler soon appeared.
"He had an easy smile."
Mr Cameron had also recorded many movies with his video camera and they are set to become clan folklore.
Monday's funeral began and ended with bagpipe music from Colin Cameron, Tristan Sanders and Eliot Fenton.
An administrative matter was also sorted during the ceremony, after it was mentioned that Mr Cameron had been involved with the Opotiki Rotary Club for 51 years.
Opotiki Community Theatre Trust chairwoman Ellie Collier said Mr Cameron had been involved with the theatre longer than he had been a Rotarian.
"He was with us first and we claim him," she said.
Mrs Collier said Mr Cameron had thought she could count when she joined the theatre trust.
"He was disappointed when I used a calculator," she said.
"He was an amazing person, someone to look up to, and I am thankful to have known him."
Fraser Cameron was the dearly loved husband of Elaine and father of Shona, Stuart, Darryl (deceased) Mary-Anne and Vivienne, father in law to Jeff, Irene, Rhys, Butch (deceased) and Paul. He was the loved Poppa of 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
Source: Opotiki News, www.thebeacon.co.nz, Wednesday, September 4, 2019.
Chris Korte's New Zealand Genealogy Project
1930 - 2019 (89 years)
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