Passed away 12 November 2013, Waikato Hospital
Married 2 times.
Father of 4, Step-father of 7.
Granddad to 29 grandchildren.
Birth
My granddad was bron in Cardiff Wales. His parents are Thomas Gubb and Florence Lily Morell.
Before Marriage and Family
My granddad served in the Navy during his young years.
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| Granddad, 3rd from left |
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| Granddad far left |
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| Hmmm... Granddad's the boobless chick on the left. I take it he was a bit of a character. |
Marriage and Children
My granddad had four children to his first wife, Angela, Nannette, Carol, Carl and Nigel. They moved to Australia and then to NZ. While in NZ, granddads wife left him for another woman. Yes interesting I know. Anyway, resigned to the fact that his wife and children had left him, he moved to Tokoroa, lived on Tainui Street. Somewhere along the way my granddad met my nan with whom he had mutual friends. I don't know their 'love story' but I do know they were together sometime before being married. So my granddad became father to seven more children, who to this day, call him dad and love him as if he were their birth dad. My nan encouraged my granddad to try to have relationships with his own children. For the youngest two, Carl and Nigel, this was achieved and they both grew up with my dad and his siblings and have always been very close. For the three oldest, granddads daughters, this was not as achievable and it wasn't until much later in life that they had any part in my granddads life. Nevertheless, I know my granddad loved all his children.
My Granddad
Throughout the week our family shared memories we had of granddad and I also had the opportunity to speak at my graddad's funeral service and share some of my own memories of him. When we were young children and there were only about four or five grandchildren at the time, I remember we used to call my granddad Gundy. I don't know why. We also called him Granddad Gubb. At times, my granddad was an opinionated man but had good morals and standards. He taught us all many things and for that I love him. I think when us granddchildren started coming along, my nan's time became quite divided between us grandchildren and my granddad, something I think he had to get used to. He was at times, a sickly man and I heard stories during his funeral of how he was often on his death bed, which was quite humorous to my family (not in a horrible way, but because there were so many times he was going to 'die' but always came out fine). My aunty Tina shared a story about when she first met my grandparents. My nan was wearing her togs and gumboots and granddad was in the room on the bed, dying!
Granddad was a coach builder and my grandparents had buses that they used to take away on family trips. They would take us to Lake Ohakuri, which is really only down the road, but the trip always felt like a 3 hour trek. Another one of our popular visiting spots was Opal Hot Springs, near Matamata, where we would stay a few days or maybe a week or so. I was always a bit of a cry baby when I was little, I'm talking 3/4 years old and often on these trips I would cry and cry and I remember my granddad in his Welsh accent telling me to "Shuuuuuuduuuuup" LOL... I don't know that it ever shut me up, but I find it funny now. Granddad used to play this game with us at the pools. I think we called it Crocodile Gundy, my brother David calls it Gundy Gator. Anyway, it was like a game of tag, but only granddad was always 'in.' He would chase us in the pool and when he caught us, he would rub his prickly rough face on our leg. Us kids loved it and we would play for ages.
Granddad was an avid amateur home video maker in his studio he called 'Pineland Studios.' Last week we had the privilege of watching many of the home videos he had made over the years. They were awesome and my dad tells me that granddad put a lot of effort into making them. There were some funny videos and some really awesome videos of us grandchildren when we were only little little babies. Granddad had a video of my 3rd Birthday. I am really grateful that granddad had put the effort into making these films because they are priceless memories that can be shared and shared again.
I'm really glad that granddad met Llewellyn. The first time they met was when we went to visit him to invite him to our wedding. Granddad said something along the lines of "Llewellyn, that's a Welsh name." I think granddad liked that I had a handsome Welsh boy with a Welsh name who knew things about Wales. This was of course, a good conversation starter. Granddad liked a good conversation. I'm glad he made it to our wedding. He was only there for the reception and had to go home as he wasn't feeling well. That was a little sad. Llewellyn and I visited granddad in his flat a few times and he was always pleased to have a visit. I only wish we had visited him more often. I had recently thought that we needed to go visit him and share the wedding photos and photos from our trip to America, but it never happened. Sometimes I am a bit slow at putting my thoughts into action and this was one of those times. Maybe a lesson I can learn from.
My granddad was often sick having different surgeries. But I think he was most burdened when my nan died and he suffered from a broken heart. We all thought he would go very soon after nan did, but he managed to soldier on for almost four years after nan. Even though when we lose people we love we feel saddened, but with the knowledge of the gospel, it gives me great comfort that those passed on are in a better place, reunited with other loved ones and that they are really not actually as far from us as we think as the spirit world is right here with us too, but because of the veil, we don't see it. But I know they are right here.
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