Friends spread ashes of American man who ran out of time to have his dream Napier retirement

US citizen Bill Rodgers had a dream of retiring in Napier. Last month, his friends made his final wish a reality. Photos / Mark and Marcy Rodgers

US citizen Bill Rodgers fought for years to move to Napier, a city he’d ultimately never set foot in.

Time was against him. He never made it.

Now, with the help of two family friends, some of his ashes have been scattered there so that he can forever be in the place he always wanted to get to.

Rodgers, a keen traveller, businessman and wine enthusiast, spent years applying for the right visa and extensively researching the place he would finally call home.

But as paperwork issues mounted and time dragged on, Rodgers became gravely ill. His dream was ripped away in 2020 after he died of throat cancer at the age of 86.

It was an encounter with family friends that made it possible to bring Rodgers to Napier.

Last month, Mary and Gary Robinson, from Florida, took a thimble-sized sprinkling of his ashes to the Marine Parade beach, finally fulfilling Rodger’s final wish.

“We feel remarkably fortunate that we were able to, in such a poetic and beautiful way, make his resting place somewhere he had dreamed and hoped to live,” Gary Robinson said.

The pair were close to Rodger’s son and daughter-in-law, Mark and Marcy Rodgers, who got the idea after the Robinsons said they were going on a New Zealand adventure.

“We knew Bill for about 10 years and have known Mark and Marcy for about 20 years,” Mary Robinson said.

“When they knew we were going to be travelling and the ashes were available, they asked us if we could help fulfil his final dream of wanting to visit Napier. It was most fortuitous how the situation turned out.”

Marcy Rodgers said by the time her father-in-law found out he had approval to move to Hawke’s Bay, he was too ill to make the journey.

A man of talent, Rodgers had a company making motors for electric golf carts, which took him all over the world.

He also had a great love of wine, which is what may have led him to one of the world’s great wine capitals.

“He was a big wine aficionado,” Marcy Rodgers said.

Rodgers wasn’t an impulsive person, so any thoughts of wanting to come to Napier weren’t rushed, his friend said.

“It wasn’t random. He was very specific about where he wanted to be.”

He said he saw the irony in the situation, but also felt it was an honour to be able to help fulfil his friend’s final wish.

“I think that sometimes, life really lends a poetic beauty that you can never understand,” Gary Robinson said.

Napier wasn’t the only place Rodgers was to rest. The keen golfer also had a thimble size selection of his ashes spread in the lake of his favourite golf course in Florida.

Marcy said her father-in-law was loved by many people and she was pretty sure he’d be smiling down from heaven, knowing part of him now lay in the place he so wanted to be.

“He was very kind and gentle with people,” she said.

There are no laws in Florida which specifically prohibit the scattering of cremation ashes.

In New Zealand, people should check with their local council about where it’s permissible to scatter the ashes of a loved one.

Mitchell Hageman joined Hawke’s Bay Today in January 2023. From his Napier base, he writes regularly on social issues, arts and culture, and the community. He has a particular love for stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.