Doctor’s death a loss to Darfield people

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 13

Doctor’s death a loss to Darfield people

With the death in London on March 27, of Dr J. W. Avery, Darfield lost a doctor and friend who had served the district faithfully for 35 years. He was in London attending a gathering of Freemasons.

Dr Avery was bom in New Guinea, the son of a Methodist missionary. When he was still a boy, the family returned to New Zealand, and lived in Taranaki. He was educated at New Plymouth Boys’ High School.

Just before the Second World War, his father became the minister for the Willowby Methodist circuit in South Canterbury, and the family lived in Ashburton.

Dr Avery qualified as a doctor early in 1941, and moved to Darfield to begin practising. In September of that year he became the medical superintendent of the Darfield Hospital and, through the war, kept his practice and the hospital work going, single handed. He has been described by residents of Darfield as the last of the real family doc-

tors — a mixture of physician, family friend, and father confessor. In 1969, when Oxford was without a doctor, he assumed responsibility for the hospital there, and he continued this association until his death. Apart from his medical career, Dr Avery had manyinterests, all of which he pursued with great vigour and no small amount of expertise. For many years he was a steward of the Greendale circuit of the Methodist Church, and he played the organ of the Darfield Methodist Church for 25 years. Poor eyesight forced him to give this up about seven years ago. Dr Avery was deeply interested in many branches of Freemasonry, and became the provisional prior of New Zealand south. He was accorded the honour of taking the chair at a meeting of the Order of the Secret Monitor in London — only the second New Zealander to be honoured in that way. One of his very deep and abiding interests was in the St John Ambulance Brigade and the St John Ambulance Association. It was because of Dr Avery that the

Darfield district got its ambulance, and he gave the original first-aid lectures in the district.

At the time of his death, he was a divisional surgeon of the brigade, as -veil as being the president of the Malvern sub-centre, and he chairman of the committee of the association.

He was given the Order of St John, and before that was invested in Christchurch Cathedral as a serving brother.

He was, for many years, the vice-chairman of the board of governors of t.e Darfield High School. One of Dr Avery’s hobbies was philately, and he was in the front rank of New Zealand collectors. He specialised in New Zealand stamps, and his collection was reckoned to be one of the best in the country. Postal history interested him greatly, and he had many first-day covers of historic value.

He exhibited on many occasions over the years and won many awards. Dr Avery was also a very keen gardener. He specialised in daffodils and exhibited his blooms on many occasions. But his favourite relaxation was to visit the lakes and fish for trout with one of his close friends from Darfield.

Dr Avery, who was 65, is survived by his wife, two sons, and three daughters.