Dick was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday, 9th August 1932 and named Henry Richard Miles, family Christian names of his father, grandfather and great-grandfathers over many generations.
His parents, Doris Pamela Totman (27) and Richard John Miles (47) already had one daughter, Viola (Vi), born in 1930. Richard also had a previous daughter, Mary, from his first marriage, which ended in divorce. Irene, the youngest child, was born in 1935. The family lived at Shore Road, Remuera before moving to live with the father of Doris, Clement Totman, at 116 Bassett Road, Remuera. Richard was in poor health, due to chronic asthma and Dick has few memories of activities shared with his father, so there was not a closeness between them that Dick recalled. He died in 1950, when Dick was 17 years old.
We grew up as a close knit family and although my father’s illness of severe asthma and his age prevented him from the companionship with his son that most boys of Dick’s age would have had with their fathers, they nonetheless shared a quiet affection and Dad was always very proud of his son’s achievements over the years.
When my father did feel well enough, we went on family outings much to my brother’s delight and we always had a wonderful time. Having Dad along was an added bonus.
Dick was not only my brother but my best friend too. We shared a bond. He was a happy, good natured boy who grew up to be an easy going likeable young man, whose unassuming manner and quiet humour made him many friends.
Irene’s memories are a little different: She said in a letter to Dick that he sadly never received:
Then of course there was the saga of Dad’s apple cider. I’d never seen you that colour before. Boy were you sick and to make matters worse, Mum made you go to the pictures with us and sit by the exit in case you were sick again. I think that was your first experience with alcohol.
I remember when you got your bicycle. Dear old Dad was really chuffed watching you ride it. Dad was so proud of you. I thought it was good too when Mum would give you some money to go to Newmarket to get some icecream from the milk bar. That was neat.
Remember all the cricket we played in the backyard? I remember Mum yelling at us not to hit the ball over the fence and mind the windows! Never could have a decent slog at the ball.
Dick went to school at Newmarket Primary School and completed his schooling at Normal Intermediate School, Epsom, where he was Head Prefect. Primary School was within walking distance but in later years he rode a bike, as it was some distance to “Normal”.
His early memories include fishing along the Auckland waterfront; making and flying model aircraft, an interest which stayed with him through life; roller skating at Khyber Pass; the early death of a school friend, aged about 12 (when he was accidentally killed while riding his bike home from school); performing in school plays, where he was one of the leading actors – he really enjoyed that; playing cricket, soccer and table tennis. However, he had few lasting memories of his early childhood, which was a surprisingly stable upbringing (considering that some of it was during WWII.)
His memories of his mother during those early years show that she was supportive, always attending school functions and being there for her children when needed. Money was never plentiful, due to Richard’s inability to work due to ill health but the family did not feel deprived in any way, knowing no other way of living.
Dick left school at 15 and started work at a plumbing supply shop, then went to work for Tasman Empire Airways Limited, (later to become Air New Zealand), where he worked in Administration, as Office Boy to the Traffic Manager, then in Reservations and Air Cargo. He did a trip across the Tasman Sea to Sydney on a Solent Flying Boat for a two week training session around 1951, which was a thrill for him. TEAL was the job he recalls as “the best ever” but times changed and moral in the firm dropped as land planes took over. He then went to work as a warehouseman, at a fabric warehouse just prior to our marriage, mainly to earn more money.
Motor cycles were a life long interest. He had a 1934, 196cc 2 stroke Francis-Barnett motor cycle, then a 250cc Ariel 4 stroke, before buying a 1947 Triumph Speed twin 500cc (he had this bike when we met and we did all our courting on this, with me as pillion passenger). He enjoyed his motor cycling, always sat upright, never bent over the handle bars and wore a brown leather jacket against the cold. Not many young men in those days had cars, in fact not many families had them either, trams, then buses were the usual mode of transport. Although in later years Dick owned other motor cycles of Japanese origin, classic British motor cycles remained his interest and he felt it deeply when the Doctor suggested that his motor cycle license was no longer applicable when he turned 75 and needed a medical certificate to drive.
Compulsory military training commenced in New Zealand when Dick was 18 and he served three months basic training, where he met Alan Nixey (the best man at our wedding) and through Alan made many good friends. They did three years Reserve training, attached to the 133 Anti-aircraft Battery, 13th Composite Regiment in the Royal NZ Artillery, where he finished up with the rank of Sergeant. He regarded the Army training as a time of growing up and becoming independent and he certainly appeared self-assured to me when I met him at age 21.
On Saturday afternoons, the “boys” (as we called his group of friends) would meet at the hotel for a few beers (closing time was 6pm then) and they had a great companionship and did a lot together. They were a happy go-lucky bunch of mates, he has never had such close friendships since those days. During our time of “courting”, we shared many occasions with Alan, Randy, Mac, Keith and Dorothy, George and Leith and they were great times, car rallies, parties, picnics and pictures, with hamburgers afterwards. It was innocent fun in those days and even after we married, the boys used to come around on Saturday evenings for dinner and a few drinks. We would play cards, no television then, or just sit and chat and have a lot of laughs. I think we all talked more in those days, prior to the introduction of television. Once they got themselves girlfriends, things changed and one by one they married and got on with their own lives.
I initially met Dick at the 21st birthday party of one of the girls who worked with him at TEAL in early October of 1953. I remembered him, as he showed me a lot of photos of his 21st birthday, of which he was very proud. When I saw him again at a New Years Eve dance at Orewa the same year, I boldly reintroduced myself (brazen hussy). We had a few dances and he invited himself and his mates to come and see me at Red Beach, where I was staying, on the Sunday night. There were movies being shown in the open air there, so we sat and watched the religious type movies and chatted and I enjoyed their company, they were all handsome lads.
Our holidays were ending then, both returning to Auckland to work, so we arranged our first date, meeting outside the Embassy Theatre in Auckland, where we went to see Roman Holiday, with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. I still love that movie!
We married at 3pm on 22nd October 1955, at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Symonds Street, Auckland, the Rev. Cumming officiating, with the reception at the Rose Gardens Tea Kiosk, Parnell. Our honeymoon was spent on Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf and we met two other couples there who had also married on the same day and we all had a great time together.
Initially we lived in a flat at Greenwoods Corner but in 1958 moved into our first new home at 5 Varlene Terrace, Takapuna North, which we built with a mortgage of three thousand pounds and next to no deposit and thought we were laden down with debt.
Our first child, Richard was born in 1958, followed by Kathleen, 1960, Peter 1964 and Dean 1966. Financially those years were a struggle, with me working at times to supplement the budget.
Dick had a variety of jobs then, trying to earn more to support the family. He even took on travelling salesman jobs, which took him away from home through the week. We both hated that, even though it provided us with a car and extra finance. When he went to work for Griffiths Motors, as a spare parts salesman, our lives became more stable. By then we had our own vehicle and life was comfortable.
In 1968 we were offered the opportunity to move to Taneatua, Bay of Plenty, with Dick managing the general hardware store of Bell and Hodgson Limited. This was a family company, owned by cousins of mine and we had the greatest respect for them; they were not only our employers, they were dear friends. For a few years we lived happily at 15 Morrison Street, in a house owned by the company, then built our second house at 8 Ada Vale, Whakatane. It was a great place to live, Dick joined the Whakatane Model Aero Club and we had some memorable times with them, holidaying at the annual Nationals held in Fielding and Hamilton and enjoying sociable evenings with the very nice group of members. It was competitive flying but he enjoyed the challenge then.
Dick flew free flight gliders and some control line planes but the gliders were his real love and although in later years he built radio controlled planes, he never derived any real satisfaction from flying them and much preferred free flight but restrictions due to safety concerns made this difficult. He spent a lot of time during his retirement building planes, which he really enjoyed but very little time was spent in actually flying them, as he was not confident of his ability with radio control.
He enjoyed fishing in the Bay of Plenty and happy days were spent trout fishing in the Waimana River and fishing off the beach at Piripai and the Whakatane Heads with our boys. As well we swam at Ohope Beach and they were enjoyable family times.
Nothing remains the same however; times were changing with the business and after a holiday spent in Australia, we both felt that it was time to move on and Queensland looked like a great place, so we made the move in January 1977, bought a mixed business on Kirra Beach, then a house at Tugun and began our new lives. Richard was in the NZ Airforce then and Kathy elected to stay behind with her friends, so there were only the four of us. Peter and Dean coped well in the new environment, becoming more independent, while we worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week. While we did not make a lot of money during our eleven and half months in the shop, it enabled us to get a good credit rating and to establish ourselves in a new home. Kathy joined us at the end of 1977 and Richard left the Airforce a few years later, also making Australia his home, so the family were together once more.
Although born in New Zealand, Australia became our home and in 1981, we became Australian citizens and never regretted that move.
When we sold the shop, Dick worked for a plumbing supply firm; then appliance spare parts, before settling into Dulux Trade Centre at South Tweed Heads. He was there for 13 years, before retiring in 1994. We then moved to Hervey Bay to commence our retirement lives.
With the family scattered between the Gold Coast and Maryborough our interests changed, though Dick’s aircraft building continued. He never did the amount of fishing that he had planned, finding fishing in Australia not the same as in New Zealand and disappointing as a rule. It was only if family came and encouraged him that he would venture out and as someone who always had to have the perfect conditions, tide just right, wind also, I’m afraid that fish caught were few and mainly undersized, so had to be returned to the water and I can’t really remember eating any of them. However, he has left a lot of fishing rods, reels and lures for family use.
We both were enthralled with the Australian birdlife, so joined the newly formed Birdwatchers of Hervey Bay group and spent many enjoyable times with them, learning the identification of the different species and it became a major interest for us both. Holidays were spent tramping in the State and National Parks and forests and we enjoyed travelling North, South or West visiting the different regions of NSW or Queensland, noting the new birds we saw.
On our 50th wedding anniversary we went on a Seniors conducted trip to Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands, a second honeymoon for us, with slightly different priorities then.
Over the last few years Dick began noticing health problems relating to arterial blockages in his legs and carotid arteries. An investigation of his heart was scheduled for 20th December 2007 and a chest X-Ray a few days prior, found problems with his left lung, which a CT scan showed to be lung cancer. This was a shock to us all, as there had been no symptoms of this. A PET scan on 11th January 2008 confirmed that the cancer had spread to stomach and bones (2nd vertebrae, spine, hip and pelvis). The heart investigation also showed blockage of three arteries, 60-90% but nothing could be done for this, due to the cancer prognosis. On 29th January we were introduced to a Social Worker, given a pile of booklets on cancer, chemo, radiation and nutrition and told that an Oncologist would be in touch, in regard to pallitive care treatment by chemo.
We went on a pre-planned holiday to Norfolk Island on 3rd February, returning the 10th February and had a happy time there, meeting up with Kay and Les, though Dick at the time was experiencing pain in his neck and back of head. I was relieved to get him back onto Australian soil though and under the umbrella of Medicare once more, as we had been unable to take out travel insurance due to his pre-existing health concerns.
His decline was rapid after that and all the family arrived to stay, to share some time with him on 8th March. He died on Monday 17th March 2008 and was cremated on 20th March.
Dick was a fine, gentle man. Essentially a loner and a family man, he was happiest in his own surroundings and comfort zone. We will always remember him with love and deepest respect.
Dawn Miles
April 2008
Read Peter's last Letter to his Dad Peter's Unconventional Eulogy