Mount lifeguard 'gob-smacked' with special honour

Kent Jarman becomes a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Photo / Jamie Troughton, Dscirbe Media

After a lifetime patrolling and responding to emergencies on his favourite stretch of beach in Mount Maunganui, it takes a lot to fluster Kent Jarman.

One brief letter announcing he had become a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit managed to do the trick though.

The 65-year-old surf lifesaver sat down with a thump, disbelief etched on his weathered dial, and needed a few minutes to compose himself when the correspondence from Government House arrived.

"I'm gob-smacked, to be honest - I really am," Mr Jarman admitted. "It's quite humbling because you don't do stuff like this thinking one day you might be recognised. It's also humbling because I've spent 50 years doing something that I've loved, hanging out at beaches with great people, having fun."

Mr Jarman's wife Shelley Kerr - a fellow life member of the beloved Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service - recorded the moment on her iPad to show their grandchildren.

The order is awarded to those "who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and the nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions, or other merits".

Mr Jarman's surf CV covers that criteria rather nicely. Yet those labels only tell half the story. He was a 16-year-old Tauranga Boys' College schoolboy when he first joined the movement, convinced by a club member who had spotted him at school swimming sports. Following stints with Omanu and Wellington's Lyall Bay club, he joined Mount Maunganui in 1974 and has been on deck ever since.

He has no idea of the number of lives he has saved but he has prevented at least one fatality every single year he has been on patrol. Some years have been busier than others - he once rescued 25 people in an eventful two hours at the Main Beach using an IRB. He has also fitted a career as a builder around those countless rescues, the hundreds of volunteer hours each summer and the dozens of emergency callouts each year, all while mentoring dozens of younger members coming through.

Those fresh faces, so often looking to Mr Jarman for guidance, have in turn kept him going.

"Kicking around with young people keeps you young. I love it - the younger ones don't cut me a lot of slack and I'm expected to keep up with them but that's cool and hopefully there's a little bit of respect there. That's all part of it because it keeps you grounded.

"Age is a state of mind. Your body may tell you that you're getting older but it doesn't mean you have to think like an old person. Life's still got a few chapters to go yet."

Kent Jarman - New Zealand Order of Merit

* Mount Maunganui Lifeguard Service life member

* Also a life member of Surf Life Saving Bay of Plenty and Surf Life Saving New Zealand

* He has been a national champion athlete, New Zealand representative, coach, club captain, chairman and president, with 42 years as a patrol captain and 29 years as an IRB instructor

* Mr Jarman has prevented at least one fatality every year he has been on patrol.