"I spent my early years there and when we got older, we boarded at Palmerston North Boys' High."
When Ross Brown left school, he met his future wife Anne Millward who is the granddaughter of former Whanganui Mayor Edward Alan Millward.
"We always spent our Christmases here and I am looking forward to spending the spring and summer in Whanganui.
"I have recently spent time in Tauranga, Hamilton and Hawkes Bay and everyone was talking about how good Whanganui High School is."
Although he has spent most of his career working at boys' schools - he resigned from his long service at Napier Boys' High School in January - Mr Brown has two daughters as well as a son and said he had the interesting experience of teaching at a Californian co-ed school early in his career.
"I received a scholarship to teach in San Francisco as a young teacher" he said.
"It was at the time when most of the hippies had gone and the Vietnam war had just ended.
"I rode a horse through Silicone Valley before it became what it is now."
Mr Brown said young people have the same basic needs no matter what their gender - to be safe and feel valued so they can achieve.
