MR P. E. BEAN DEAD.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20295, 3 May 1934, Page 15

MR P. E. BEAN DEAD.

Well Known in Tennis and Golfing Circles. ILLNESS DURING GAME. Mr P. E. Bean, of 4, Kahu Road. Riccarton. died yesterday afternoon following a very sudden illness which occurred while he was playing tennis. Mr Bean, who passed his seventy-third birthday two days ago, was a retired railway officer, whose last appointment was stationmaster at Lyttelton. He was a very enthusiastic tennis player, and his steadiness and experience enabled him to play in the company of much younger men, among whom he was always a redoubtable opponent or a valuable partner. He

played on the United Club’s grass courts during the summer, and regularly but less frequently on hard courts in the winter, when he alternated hi? tennis with golf, playing at the Hagley Club, where he was a notable figure among a picturesque company of veterans known as “The Lambs.” Mr Bean bore his years lightly, thanks to a very cheerful disposition. He was extremely popular ir. tennis and golfing circles, and no tennis tournament latterly would have seemed complete without his presence in charge of the umpiring, though he did not umpire often himself. He was familiarly known among a very wide circle of friends as “Beano,” and no more popular or sportsmanlike figure has been associated with the United Club. He was, in fact, the most remarkable of all the tennis veterans of Christchurch. and possibly of New Zealand, and when he played recently in a veterans’ exhibition match at Wilding Park with Messrs .1. H. Kirk, E. J. Ross, and George Fisher, he was much the most active member of the party. Mr Bean leaves a widow and grown-up family. A brother. Mr W. D. Bean, of Nelson, was for a time head master of the Sydenham School.