Lockwood Homes pioneer farewelled

Jo La Grouw, founder of Lockwood Homes, was farewelled over the weekend. File photo / NZ Herald

Hundreds of people farewelled Lockwood Homes co-creator Jo La Grouw Sr at the weekend.

Mr La Grouw died last week at the at the age of 98 after a short illness.

His funeral was held at the Rotorua Convention Centre on Saturday and was attended by family, friends and staff.

Celebrant and family friend Craig Capamagian spoke about Mr La Grouw's achievements, his journey to success and his dedication to his family.

Eulogies were given by former Rotorua mayor Grahame Hall, former Rotorua MP, district councillor and deputy mayor Paul East and Lockwood Homes staff member John Rewi.

Mr Hall spoke on behalf of the Rotorua community.

"We thank Jo for choosing Rotorua to set up his business," Mr Hall said.

Mr Rewi said Mr La Grouw was passionate about his business and would still visit the Rotorua site to make sure everything was going well.

Following Mr Rewi's speech, Lockwood Homes staff stood for a song.

Mr La Grouw and business partner Johannes Van Loghem pioneered the Lockwood building system.

They arrived in New Zealand as Dutch immigrants in 1950.

A year later, after settling in Rotorua, they used the region's vast timber resources to develop Lockwood's unique timber house construction system.

Their business evolved into a thriving company.

Mr and Mrs La Grouw and their five children arrived in New Zealand by boat from Holland in 1950. The family first settled in Wainuiomata where Mr La Grouw and Mr Van Loghem began importing pre-fabricated houses from Europe.

A year later, they moved to Rotorua.

In 2008 Mr La Grouw was recognised by the Rotorua business community for his contribution by being inducted into the Rotorua Business Hall of Fame.

This year, he also received a New Year's Honour for services to business and the community.