Peter Barry and his wife Eve. Photo/ Stephen Parker
Had Peter Barry been confident he could be chaste and obedient he'd have been a lifetime player on God's priestly team.
Being a realistic bloke he realised he couldn't make such binding commitments, renouncing the path leading him towards holy orders.
Within a few years he'd discovered a new calling, it
was Rotorua, a place where he was to become one of those "backbone of the community" types, a man who's embraced both urban and rural sectors since he and his bride of two days, Eve, arrived 61 years ago.
He's been a stock buyer and farmer, played senior rugby for Old Boys, chaired the A&P Association at the time shows were held at grounds in Uta St, joined the Rose Society, hunted, represented the region on the Wool Board, owned and raced horses, served as a racing club steward, helped kick start the Rotorua Stadium Charitable Trust and was a four-term district councillor.
They're accomplishments recognised with an MBE and Commonwealth Medal.
Telling him it is heck of a list he lobs back with the blindingly obvious: "I'm the sort of bloke who likes to put his shoulder to the wheel in anything I do."
The notable exception was his aborted entry into the priesthood. As the oldest son of family steeped in Catholicism it was expected of him, a sister was already a novitiate nun.
At 14 or 15 Peter was whizzed off to Timaru's Claremont Seminary. "At 16 I had a bit of a talk to myself about the necessary vows and told Brother Gilbertus I'd be okay with the poverty bit but couldn't promise chastity and obedience."
The brothers sent him on his way with £5 ($10) in his pocket; "a lot of mates have called me 'the defrocked priest' since".
Back in the real world Peter found a farmhand's job in Taupiri.
"I guess they wanted to stop me going wild and I'd ridden horses since I was knee-high."
He was captain of his local pony club when he first clapped eyes on Eve. "She was 14, sitting on a horse wearing shorts, I was warned off her."
Eve chips in revealing Peter had been "sweet" on her sister for two or three years "but we eventually got together".
With their relationship complicated by religious differences, Eve's family were Jehovah Witnesses, they married in the Auckland Registry office "but still managed a darn good after-match".
His marriage coincided with joining Hellabys as its Rotorua stock buyer. He'd already done a lot of droving, there's a touch of the Wild West in his stories of those days - take the time he couldn't budge a bull from a ditch.
"This old boy from the Horotiu works shoved a Waikato Times between its legs and lit it, there wasn't any trouble shifting it then." Peter's dry humour's legendary.
His Rotorua arrival coincided with the explosion of the district's farming sector.
"We'd be sending up to 500 cattle, 1000 pigs and 1500 sheep a week to the works by rail, the wagons were waiting at the Ngongotaha sale yards; to shunt them Jim Pender hooked them onto his V8, hit the gas leaving us to gallop after them."
Peter was no slug in the fleet of foot department, playing 13 seasons as lock and prop for the Arawa Park-based Old Boys' Senior A team. "The club rooms were where Rydges [hotel] is, we were the first club to let wives and girlfriends in, it made for a wonderful feeling among sportsmen."
In Peter's playing days Rotorua rugby was at its peak and physical.
"Buck Shelford says the toughest club rugby he's played was in Rotorua."
Rugby wasn't his sole recreation, he and Eve rode to hounds "we'd hunt around the district, Eve was a marvellous horsewoman".
With their close friend, the late Eric Anderson, the Barrys farmed leasehold land while remaining town-based. "We worked the big block next to the gondolas, then 700 acres [283 hectares] at Horohoro."
Through stock buying and farming, Peter became involved in "the great wool debate" that raged as moves were made to rationalise the industry. "It was largely driven by Federated Farmers, we challenged them and toppled them."
The "we" is Peter and his supporters who pushed successfully for him to stand for Wool Board election - he was a member for 18 years.
"Wool is the most wonderful fabric in the world particularly in women's fashion, you can keep your synthetics."
In 1990 he became a south ward councillor, chaired the parks and recreation committee, only quitting the council chamber "when my joints started playing up on me".
Council debates resonated with his vocal opposition to "the mall" [Rotorua Central]. "I always said it would be at the expense of the CBD, I was right, now it's like a bit of driftwood washed up on the beach."
As a driving force in the Stadium Charitable Trust that raised $3.2m for its redevelopment its "woeful" underuse appals him.
"We brought the ground up to IRB standards; it's a huge disappointment that it lies idle most of the time."
For that he slams "unrealistic" council administrators.
"They don't market it at a reasonable price, it would be lovely to see sports being played there on a Saturday for five bucks, a pie included."
It's this kind of thinking that's seen Peter Barry's name carved into Rotorua's recent history as an outspoken "doer". "I love Rotorua, it's amazing, unique, I've always tried to do my best for it."
PETER BARRY
Born: Devonport, 1930.
Education: Panmure Convent, Sacred Heart College, Claremont Seminary.
Family: Wife Eve, two sons, two daughters, 10 grandchildren, four great granddaughters.
Interests: Family, rugby, racing and beer - "it used to be a lot of all three now it's less beer, we've both got TAB accounts and never miss a game on TV", "being Eve's sous chef", reading "good yarns".
Royal recognition: MBE and Commonwealth Medal.
Personal Philosophy: "Take life as it comes."