Vale Laurie MoodieFriday 11 Jul 2025  As a well-known sawmill manager for many years we send our condolences to the the extended family on the recent passing of Laurie Moodie. His career included a long-standing role as Site Manager at Tachikawa Forest Products in Rotorua working closely with Koji Tachikawa for many years.Mr Tachikawa has acknowledged his colleague and long-time friend fondly: "Since first meeting Laurie Moodie at Tasman Lumber’s Rainbow Sawmill in 1989, we’ve maintained a special friendship for over 35 years. As a comrade in arms, I found Laurie a brave, strong man, straight talking and honest. Socially he was a good drinker, great singer, loyal husband and strong father figure; a god-father to the Moodie family. Down to earth, he treated everyone equally, ready to listen to others’ ideas, to measure them through the framework of his extensive timber industry experience. However, in this he was intransigent only changing his position when convinced others were right." "I hired him to manage our New Zealand mill against the advice of our J/V partner suggesting a university graduate would be better. But I did not listen to their advice. I was looking for a tough sawmiller, one prepared to share my vision and destiny, to build something worthwhile from scratch. Laurie quickly adapted to our technology and methods, and proved accepting of wider technology and market demand, contributing his own ideas on new, better way to improve production. To this day I have no regrets about my decision." Since my departure from New Zealand, our friendship has continued with regular contact when I was in New Zealand and ongoing dialogue marking special events in our family. As my last words to him, I’d like to dedicate the song MY WAY which we sang many times together: “We did it our way”. A funeral service was held at Osbornes Funeral Directors Chapel in Rotorua on Thursday, 10 July. .png)
Photo taken April 1997. |
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