John

I can still recall the first day that I met John, he was much larger than we were and with dark skin and curled cropped haircut -- was hard to miss.

John had an infectious smile, and was a gentle giant. There were times that he did lose his temper and you could see the rage in his eyes and it was terrifying. He was always first to say "hello, how are you?", while he was a quiet person he was never a party animal -- John always commanded respect in his own way.

Rugby was his passion and he was really good at this. His body was built to be a prop forward, it was god's will and John himself was a devout christian. You would hardly ever hear John swear, he however was very passionate when he played rugby and I do recall players from our own team being hurt by John as he flew in the rucks with his full force.

Touch Football was the safest place to play against John, however while he was a big kid - he was agile and very difficult to "tag". John had some background in Judo or Martial Arts and I only once saw him use this. That was on me...John had taken offence to me using a 'swear' word and before I knew it, he had flipped me over using technique and not brawn. Suffice to say I never used bad language around him again.

Lamingtons -- John loved these and would always say a 'touch of paradise' as it reminded him of his beloved Tonga. I was one of the lucky few who caught up with John years after we had left Newington. He was bigger and unfortunately not in the best of health -- John was always a great person who would listen and I'm sure that was an attribute in his Governor role.

Alcohol -- as I said John was never a party guy. However I do recall in the Boarding House that he created Jungle Juice using a fermented Watermelon. That was the only marginal thing I ever saw John do, amongst us he really was an angel and a large one at that !

Girls -- However John did have a pin-poster in his locker, it was I believe an African American girl. John used to smile and say "black power", look at her

John was a man with a good spirit, kind and someone that you could be around comfortably without trying him ever trying to impress you. I always imagined that I would get a chance to travel to Tonga, at some stage in my life and see John and his tribe of kids.  Unfortunately that never happened.

He was a good mate and will be missed.

Here's to you John !