Teacher, friend, innovator and mentor Roger Dee was honoured yesterday when his "second home" the Wairarapa College gym was officially named after him to mark the fifth anniversary of his death.
From 1969 until 2003 Mr Dee served for 35 years as a PE teacher at Wairarapa
College 28 of those years as head of that department, He was an integral part of the school's culture and sporting life, assistant principal Paul Pottinger said.
Mr Dee also coached the first XV and later the Wairarapa-Bush Senior A team and Mr Pottinger said his contribution to the sport, the community and the school was huge.
Current Wairarapa-Bush captain Joe Harwood was one of Mr Dee's last first XV captains and Mr Pottinger said Mr Dee was always a step ahead of his contemporaries.
"He was way ahead of his time in projects.
"He had a fifth form theory class in 1976 he was light years ahead of his time," Mr Pottinger said.
He said Mr Dee's third and fourth form theory and skills book, applicable to all codes and disciplines, would still be useful today.
"He was an inspiring mix of teacher, friend and mentor and he really left his stamp on the kids," former Wairarapa College first XV manager John Bunny said.
"He was a real standards man discipline and standards were his hallmark," Mr Pottinger said.
In 2004 Mr Bunny said the charge to raise the $700 to get the plaque was driven by former Masterton CIB head and Mr Dee's close friend Luther Toloa, who "led a delegation in 2004 to the school board to ask if the gym could be named after Roger".
"The gym was his second home, sometimes his first," Mr Pottinger said.
The money for the plaque was raised by friends of Wairarapa College, past pupils and colleagues and a group of mates from Mr Dee's hometown in Nelson.
"I'm sure he'll forgive us for taking so long to get around to organising it," Mr Bunny said.
