Edna Boon - a little family history from Waioeka

While in the Opotoki Museum I saw a book "Waioeka School Centennial 1884-1984". This is the school that my Aunt Edna worked in with her husband Ernest Boon from 1932 - 1934.

She was my father's elder sister born Edna Gabb in Christchurch. She was a talented pianist and teacher. We had visited Waioeka on our previous visit to the area some 15 years ago but don't recall seeing this book. It says Ernest was a keen sportsman and took swimming lessons down at the river after school. They also set up a rugby team from the Pa, which Ernest coached and they had also a Waioeka choir with weekly practices being held. They organized a tennis ladder with pupils and residents alike permitted to make use of the facility during weekends and after school.

Edna organaized concerts at the Pa during the winter, the profits being spent on a piano for the Pa. So popular were these concerts that many residents from town, including the mayor , attended. In October 1932 the children and locals put on a concert in Opotiki which received a very positive review in the local paper.

A 50th Jubilee Committee was set up in November 1933 for the celebrations February 24-25 1934. Edna was secreatary. The programme on the Saturday started with a haka of welcome, roll call and inspection of the school, followed by luncheon at the pa , then a concert by locals and a display of Maori crafts.

In the evening there was a dance from 8-12pm.

Sunday at 2pm there was a church service.

According to the school log and a newspaper report the celebrations were well attended and a great success, with the concert in the hall being the highlight for many.

Now the sad part . As reported in the book "unfortunately Mrs E Boon accidentally drowned in the Waioeka River during the weekend's celebrations which did put a damper on the weekend".

My grandmother did not go to the funeral and did not want an inquest to be held. According to my aunt Dorothy, Edna , Ernest and another female teacher had been out walking near the river when this accident and drowning ocurred. The family thought it was suspicious.

Their first child a girl named Fleur after Galsworthy's Fleur had died in infancy and both are buried in Opotoki Cemetery. I remember when I first saw her monument there was this broken pillar which I thought was damaged, but apparently this was how it always was , a symbol of her being cut down in the prime of life.

Later in the year a plaque to commemorate her death and contribution to the school was unveiled and was still there on the wall when we went there in the early 1990s.

Ernest took time off in 1934 after her death "to recover" and "accepted a transfer to help him over his grief" in April 1935.

My father never spoke of this incident and my aunt only in the late 1980s - early 1990s.

The photo is probably that of Edna, taken by Tyree Studio. It is not Auntie Dorothy who hated having her photo taken. In the school photo I think Edna is on the far right.