Fred Daniel, MBE, was a man who lived and breathed service for his community.
He had a distinguished career in the military, was an avid "rugby man", a life member and former president of the Dunedin Returned and Services Association and chief executive of the Montecillo Veterans Home for 25 years before eventually becoming a resident himself.
His son, Kelly Daniel, said his retirement, injury and hard times never stopped his sense of duty to his country, family or community.
"His life was one of service to his country, to his family, to his community, and that is reflected in the amount of things that he did in his life, even when he was in his retirement."
Mr Daniel was born in Waimate to Celia and Fred Daniel, and spent his youth moving around the South Island for his father’s job on the railways, a lifestyle he emulated during his own children’s early years.
His son, Mike Daniel, said Fred’s father worked aboard the Fairlie Flyer, a train that ran from Timaru to just past Fairlie. His work on the railways had the family packing up and shifting towns often.
"My father’s job had us moving around a lot, and it was the same with his father’s job with the railway — he followed his father like how we followed our father."
Fred spent his childhood in various railway towns all over Southland, Otago and South Canterbury.
When Fred was young, his father served in World War 2, driving trains throughout Egypt as part of the NZ Engineers Railway Construction and Maintenance Group.
Coming back to New Zealand, his father continued on the railway, and when Fred grew up he followed his father’s footsteps and joined the military.
He served in Malaya from 1961 to 1963, Borneo from 1963 to 1965 and Vietnam in 1967.
Later in life, he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE).
Mike said his father began his military career very young by joining the cadets before formally enlisting in the army.
When stationed in Singapore in 1977, Fred fell into a storm drain and broke his neck. He spent a year in a wheelchair before learning to walk again, much to the surprise of multiple doctors and surgeons, who believed it would not happen, Mike said.
On October 2, 1965, Fred married his wife Pat in Gisborne.
The couple moved around due to Fred’s military career. Pat gave birth to three sons: Mike in Malaysia; JP in Waiouru; and Kelly, when the family lived in Whanganui.
"We did move around ... wherever he went he involved himself in the community — any place we lived, throughout New Zealand and abroad," Mike said.
Fred spent 25 years as chief executive of the Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital, which was a special place where people could find a sense of family, he said in 2018.
"I found that servicemen look out for each other, to a point where we're all brothers in arms — the trust and the loyalty to each other, regardless of the colour or creed, is the distinctive point of difference," Fred said at the time.
Later in life Fred and Pat came back to Dunedin and ran the Bowling Green Hotel.
"They stayed on in Dunedin because it felt like home."
He was heavily involved in Otago, Wellington and Whanganui rugby, filling many managerial and support roles for clubs in the regions. For some time he was the Otago Rugby Union president.
"He played rugby for a number of years, but he had quite a number of heavy concussions in his early 20s and was advised to not play rugby any more — he would take a knock to the head and would be out for minutes, not just seconds," Mike said.
JP said his father wore many hats; he was a community man, a rugby man and a military man, but first and foremost a family man.
"No matter where Dad was, he always made an effort to see his family as well as my mother’s — family was the most important thing to Dad.
"I saw him as my father, whereas others saw him as a soldier, a rugby man, or a lead figure in their community. His door was always open and he always took the time to listen to anybody."
Kelly said his father lived a full life and was a very active person. He looked after All Blacks amd trained people who became All Blacks. There were many people in the community who had stories to tell.
"He went where he wanted to go, did what he saw the community needed. His involvement was very large.
"Dad was good at identifying people going through a hard time, who had some problems, or going off the path.
"He would pick people up, give them some guidance and get them back on the path. He passed on that sense of duty to the people he helped.
He said there was a large community of people who were from the army, were students in Dunedin, involved in the rugby scene, or had simply passed through the Bowling Green Hotel who might have gone further astray if they had not been helped by his father.
Fred Daniel died peacefully at the Montecillo Veterans Home and Hospital on January 5, aged 83.
He is survived by his wife Pat and his three sons Mike, JP and Kelly. — Laine Priestley
