Bruce MARTIN Obituary

To all Bruce's family, my thoughts are with you at this sad time. My family and the Martins spent a lot of happy times together at Pihama and the farm at Riverlea. Also the weekly Cycling meets all around South Taranaki were great fun with all the Martin boys. One fond memory is of a group of us lifting up the back of Bruce's Austin Seven as he went to drive home. RIP, Bruce. Bruce Lyster.

Bruce you walked through my mind in the wee small hours of this morning. Uncanny, I was remembering those late 50s early 60s years when we would all go down to sports night each week at Manaia. You were grass-track cycling- always handicapped yourself to the back of the start grid. Russell and Elwyn were somewhere in the mid-field. Your father Jack was starter using the sawn-off 303 firing blanks, Your brother Murray, Kevin Thomas, and I would grapple around in the dark to find the spent shells. I remember Geoff Murray and I cramming into the drafty back seat of Russell's trusty Humber (or was it a Hillman) the night we went to watch Peter Snell run the sub-four at Whanganui's Cook's Gardens. We were much younger than you Bruce, but you were one of the respected 'Seniors' of the Kaponga Bible Class fraternity Tom Thompson ran. Time and tide is wonderful- how our circles of connections revolve- connecting then coming apart, only to once again synchronise with memories that have lasted over the years, just as the tide ebbs out on the sandy shores of our land, only to return to that place that it never really left. My arohanui to you and yours Ruth- may he rest now in peace.

So sad to read of Bruce's passing. My classmate and friend of Manaia School days, and remember staying with him and his family and being invited to his 21st. Unfortunately I lost contact over the many years since but often wondered where he was and how life was treating him. My deepest sympathy to his family.

Condolences to the Martin Family in the passing of Bruce. A tireless worker & competitor now at rest.
Regards
Bernie