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For 50 years a Waimārama woman had only the information on a headstone to go by, but one Facebook post later she pieced together the life story of Philip Harold Sparling.
Adele Mohi-McGoverin only knew a name, date of birth, the cause and date of death, but after50 years of caring for Philip Harold Sparling’s grave site, she wanted to know more.
The headstone outlines that the man was Philip Harold Sparling born in Sidcup Kent in 1875, and drowned at Waimārama Beach on March 14, 1916, when he was 40 years old.
Adele Mohi-McGoverin said Sparling didn't have any family to visit him and it didn't feel right to let him be alone. Photo / Paul Taylor
The only other piece of information she had was that he had owned a local store in the Waimārama area.
Mohi-McGoverin, who has generations of family connection to the area, said that Sparling was the only European to be buried at the cemetery located on Tiakitai Rd.
That particular site of his headstone had become overgrown and blackberry had taken over, so when it was cleared in the 1970s his grave was revealed.
“The families decide who can go in there, and I think it was because he had the store and the fact that he was respected by everybody.”
She decided she couldn’t leave the plot to continue to turn to ruin and has since cared for the site, cleaning, weeding and maintaining it.
“I just tend his grave, and sit there and talk to him, he didn’t have anybody and somehow that didn’t seem right.”
Adele Mohi-McGoverin has taken care of the grave site for over 50 years and wanted to learn more about the local mysterious death. Photo / Paul Taylor
She recently took to Facebook with a post and a curiosity to learn more about him.
“The amount of information that has come in is unbelievable.”
She learned that his father was a minister in Kent, and he had two brothers who both died in World War I in 1915, a year before Sparling drowned.
She was passed on newspaper clippings that outlined fears that the storekeeper had drowned as his clothes had been found on the beach, and another clipping outlining the proceedings after his death.
“All I did was put that post on and all the information came.”
Mohi-McGoverin said the maintenance of the gravesites is important as she looks after several family sites and is hopeful one of her nieces will take over.
“I don’t want him forgotten, it’s not the way it should be.”
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
