Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Obituary: Northland blind advocate George Phiskie: positive and amazing man

Northern Advocate
27 Jul, 2018 10:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
George Phiskie of Waipū, here with his dog Georgie, has been remembered as a superb communicator, inspirational advocate and all-round great man.

George Phiskie of Waipū, here with his dog Georgie, has been remembered as a superb communicator, inspirational advocate and all-round great man.

George Phiskie December 1, 1922 - July 22, 2018.

Dad was an excellent father and, as a parent myself, hard to emulate on many levels.

These included his mental and physical strength, inventiveness, creativity, determination (which could be defined as stubborn), a get-on-with-it attitude, communicator extraordinaire and, of course, his renowned sense of humour with an amazing ability to remember "jokes"!

Dad made up for his lack of eyesight by having 60/60 vision in his head, ie, he could "see" in detail what he wanted made and what materials were to be used, think through the idea and then go about making or describing it.

These projects ranged from small – nicks on gumboot rims to determine left and right - to large - wiring the house, building the concrete pig-sties and so on.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On many of the community projects, eg, building the Bream Bay College swimming pool and the Waipū Scouts den, Dad had a reliable group of workers he was able to call upon and I'm sure there was no doubt as to who was leading; his ability to manage people got things done.

In latter years, he still had the ideas but needed to convince others to make it for him.

"That is not safe!" was like a red rag to a bull when he was planning or attempting to do anything that even for a sighted person would be difficult. This comment was met with a forceful "If you don't try, you will never know!"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And he kept pushing the envelope on this one right up to his last days when he wanted to get around the house on his own and had difficulty understanding he just couldn't.

As a consequence we grew up with one of the best examples you could have regarding being able to achieve anything if you wanted and strived for it, with determination.

By the time we were 3, we were able to steer the tractor around the farm, up the hill and even on the road while Dad worked the peddles. From a young age, farm chores were the same as for many children of farming families with maybe the difference that we were expected to complete the job without supervision, attend to any medical problems like injections and catch any wayward calves on our own.

Dad was a loving and caring father who did all he could, regardless of constraints.

Discover more

Half of Northlanders with hep C don't know they have it

28 Jul 02:00 AM

He was a life member of the NZ Blind Foundation and chief executive Sandra Budd said: "George was indeed a special person to us with an amazing history of contribution and support of blind people. His gentle humour, kind heart, positive and amazing can-do attitude were examples and an aspiration to us all."

She said she personally learnt so much from George, particularly about never letting disability define you, but to define yourself by the abilities you demonstrate in positivity and determination to succeed.

"We will miss him dreadfully as I know will the Whangārei community. George was iconic in our community and was one of the most inspirational blind people I have met."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

'You never know when you'll need them': Survivor urges Cancer Society support

Northern Advocate

Crews called to overnight blaze in Whangārei

Premium
OpinionKevin Page

Tears of joy and hunger at the airport - Kevin Page


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Watch: Govt releases alarmingly poor literacy data for Kiwi kids as ‘Writing Action Plan’ launched
Politics

Watch: Govt releases alarmingly poor literacy data for Kiwi kids as ‘Writing Action Plan’ launched

Shoppers snap up Smeg cookware at new Pt Chevalier New World
Retail

Shoppers snap up Smeg cookware at new Pt Chevalier New World

Fancy home away from home: Inside the revamped Adina Sydney Town Hall hotel
Travel

Fancy home away from home: Inside the revamped Adina Sydney Town Hall hotel

'I thought it was me': Gareth Morgan appears as deepfake in investment scam
Business

'I thought it was me': Gareth Morgan appears as deepfake in investment scam

Why BBC's Ozzy documentary was pulled at the last minute
Entertainment

Why BBC's Ozzy documentary was pulled at the last minute

The cricket comeback: How Rotorua Boys' High is reclaiming its legacy
Rotorua Daily Post

The cricket comeback: How Rotorua Boys' High is reclaiming its legacy



Latest from Northern Advocate

'You never know when you'll need them': Survivor urges Cancer Society support
Northern Advocate

'You never know when you'll need them': Survivor urges Cancer Society support

About 270 more volunteers are needed in Northland for Daffodil Day on August 29 and 30.

18 Aug 06:52 PM
Crews called to overnight blaze in Whangārei
Northern Advocate

Crews called to overnight blaze in Whangārei

18 Aug 06:37 PM
Premium
Premium
Tears of joy and hunger at the airport - Kevin Page
Kevin Page
OpinionKevin Page

Tears of joy and hunger at the airport - Kevin Page

18 Aug 05:00 PM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search