Dr John Moore and the red lantern that signalled his family practice was a dispensing surgery.
John Moore has discovered his own elixir to life.
The good doctor's definition of a grand life is great memories and he has certainly harvested his share over the past 70 years.
And there are plenty more to create and store in his retirement.
The second generation solo general practitioner retired after selling his Wicksteed St practice last month. The retirement ended 70 years of service clocked up jointly by him and his father.
His father, also known as Dr John Moore, started the practice in 1946 after serving five years with the army medical corps during World War II. Young Dr John took over in 1978.
"We weren't originally from Whanganui, but dad spent time in the war with a man called Kendrick Christie who said 'come to Whanganui and I will give you a start'," Dr John recalled.
Memories and anecdotes from the past must have been a family trait.
During the war, Dr John senior helped capture and treat an injured German ambulance crew.
"Dad treated the injured, including a German officer who after being treated said, 'thank you, but we'll be off now'.
"Dad, of course, said 'no, sorry you won't, you are all now prisoners of war'. The officer and my dad became good mates and corresponded for years after the war. He even kept and used some of the original instruments from the ambulance," Dr John said.
Setting up in those days was difficult, but thinking back on solo doctor's careers was quite satisfying.
"It was 70 years in total that my father and I practised and patients that came to see him in the late 1940s were still with me, so between us we have treated them their entire lives - quite amazing."
Dr John has fond memories of growing up and remembers certain benefits of being a GP's son.
"Like the time the circus came to town and the guy they shot out of a cannon had an accident. My father went to treat him and he had quite bad burns to his bottom. Anyway, once he was fixed up, the circus owners gave our family free tickets - it was nice how some people paid."
Years later when he became a doctor himself, he noted other benefits.
"When I first started it was probably around the time of the last home visits by GPs.
During day home visits you would invariably be offered endless cups of tea at the end of a consult or perhaps even a sherry. In the evening they would often say 'have another sherry, doctor, you can't fly on one wing.'
"But home visits are largely gone now. GPs are simply far too busy these days."
Very early in his career, the young man's sense of adventure took hold.
During the early to mid-70s, Dr John worked as district health officer for the Milne Bay area in Papua New Guinea and subsequently was a locum in other exotic locations including Utopia, northeast of Alice Springs in Australia, Palm Island in Northern Queensland, and the Republic of Kiribati, on the equator in the central tropical Pacific Ocean.
In many of those places, he treated malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy and a host of tropical diseases not normally seen in a Whanganui practice.
"I was barely out of my second year of house surgery at Wanganui Hospital when my brother worked as a geologist in Papua New Guinea, and like a lot of other young people, I was seeking a bit of adventure. So I wrote to the health ministry up there and they offered me a three-month contract in the Southern Highlands.
"While I was there I had noticed Samurai Hospital on a beautiful island originally known as the Pearl of the Pacific, just off the tip of New Guinea. I became superintendent there for three months and that led to the district health officer's job in Milne Bay, which was incredibly interesting."
By then, Dr Moore was already developing a deep passion for the horse racing industry and in breeding thoroughbreds.
On his way to his posting in Utopia 480km northeast of Alice Springs, he was waylaid.
"They had sent an ambulance down to pick me up and the driver was as keen as I was to see the races at Alice Springs as I was, so I ended up a day late for my posting."
Thankfully, Dr Moore had struck up a friendship with fellow doctor Nick Thompson in Papua New Guinea and he offered to cover the
Whanganui practice a locum to allow the Australian trips to go ahead
"When I was in Palm Island, the medical compound was surrounded by razor wire and had bulletproof glass in the operating room," Dr John recalled.
"One day an Aboriginal fellow came in cut up quite badly and quite drunk. I stitched him up and he decided to discharge himself. I asked how he would get home and he said in his very lyrical drunken voice 'I still got my two feet and heartbeat'. That struck a chord and I later called one of my race horses Fourfeetnheartbeat."
Dr Moore had about six trips to remote locations and plans a seventh in his retirement "just for old time's sake".
The good doctor has a deep empathy for indigenous people, including Maori.
"When working at Wanganui Hospital I treated James K Baxter in A&E one evening and afterwards had dinner with him and Dr Pat Ngata in the canteen - we had chops. Dr Ngata was son of the prominent Maori politician Sir Apirana Ngata.
"But it was something James K said that has stayed with me. It was quite poetical and went something like, 'I am the hole in the wall the wind blows through and the message is one day Pakeha will know what Maori already know'.
"My trips away have been very enlightening. They have afforded me the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate indigenous cultures and indigenous art which allows us to pick up a lot of anthropological material - how others think, how they behave and the music. The Aboriginal Dreamtime holds special significance."
On the flipside, Dr Moore has, in some small way, been able to repay those gifts by helping others.
"It has been very satisfying to be able to help others that may not otherwise be helped. Many have been totally unaware of their [health] conditions or the treatments available to them," Dr Moore said.
On that score, he has strong views about the New Zealand health system.
"Being a stand-alone solo GP allows me to have my own views on the way the health system operates, unlike those who work in the health-centre environment. The solo GP is out of fashion. The powers-that-be want it all integrated with larger health centres featuring numbers of doctors.
"Patients may not get to see the same doctor every visit, but I have a feeling patients sense the value in having their own GP who knows their medical history intimately. They also don't have to repeat themselves every visit.
"Then there are the incentives for doctors to conduct smoking cessation and cardio vascular risk assessments - it's a lot of form-filling that I don't know really benefits the patient. At a recent conference, it was asked why were essentially shaming patients by highlighting how much they drink and smoke or how obese they are.
"That does spoil a relationship between doctor and patient, and distracts a GP from focusing on the total holistic core of a patient.
"Ticking boxes or cookbook medicine is not the way. It is better to tailor something to a patient that suits their individual needs. It is interesting trying to address diabetes with the Pacific Island community. Their fellowship is all about greeting, generosity and feasting, so it is counterproductive to tell them to start calorie-counting.
"I don't think the ministry has addressed this enough. We are getting bogged down trying to get the message across and it kind of confiscates the normal time a GP would spend addressing individual needs."
Given today's environment, Dr Moore considers himself fortunate to have sold his solo practice.
He has sold his Wicksteed St practice to South African Annalia Coetzee who, come January, will have clocked up five years at the Gonville Health Centre.
"I'm very lucky that Annalia came along when she did," he said.
"Not many doctors - especially younger ones - are willing to commit to the business or administration side of a solo practice. She is an extremely proficient general practitioner with vast experience."
While effectively retired, Dr Moore will continue his role in the short term as director of sexual health at the Wanganui Hospital sexual health clinic. He has held this position since 1978.
"I did work in HIV prevention and sexual health during my overseas stints and, of course, I've had my role here for many years, so I'll continue in the short term anyway."
Meanwhile, the farm blocks at Upokongaro and his animals beckon.
The home block is 5hectares while the larger farm just up the road is 18ha set among a neighbouring forestry block he also grazes.
Slightly tongue in cheek, he calls them the Top Farm and the Bottom Farm.
The larger farmlet is predominantly hill country, although a large flat on the upper reaches is used to graze and lock up to produce hay for winter. Sheep, cattle and several horses, including Clydesdale, roam the pastures. The larger block also contains a now defunct 1000-metre rifle range and lodge and a refurbished former roadman's hut affectionately known as Jacko's Whare.
He gave no explanation for the name but, like many other facets of his life, it is certain to have an intriguing story behind it.
While he concedes to "just pottering around" with horses, Dr Moore has a passion for thoroughbreds and racing and had bred some winners.
His best by far to date would have to be Gauchito Bastado, who won the 2007 New Zealand Grand National Steeplechase from the stable of Kevin Myers and in the hands of top Waverley jumps jockey Isaac Lupton.
And the exotic name?
"I had an Argentinian girl doing a bit of farm work for me and she used to ride with the gauchos [cowboys] back home. She was pottering around with the horse early on in his career and said he was a 'bit naughty', so I decided to call him Gauchito Bastado, which loosely translates as naughty cowboy," Dr John said.
Secretly, Dr John Moore considers himself a bit of Gauchito Bastado.