Pop

This is my whakapapa writing of my great grandad aka my pop.

My pop was Born on the 20th of June 1933 at Liverpool England. His parents were John Quinn and Elizabeth Radcliffe. My pop was the second youngest out of 6 children he had 2 brothers and 3 sisters. Pop grew up in Liverpool during the second world war and remembered playing in bombed areas and eating food rations.

His oldest brother was injured in the war and was coming back home on a hospital ship but it was bombed by the Germans and died at 20 years old. After the war when Pop turned 16 he joined the merchant navy to travel the world and leave England. He traveled to lots of countries like Africa, South America, the Mediterranean. He saw fruits and vegetables he had never seen before and ate a banana for the first time in his life.

In 1953 he traveled to New Zealand for the first time. Where he met Nana, Amy Stephenson, in Timaru while he was boarding his ship. Nana was with a friend going to play tennis. Pop returned to England and told his sister he was coming back to New Zealand to live but didn't tell his mother as he didn't want to upset her.

When pop returned to New Zealand he and a few others jumped ship and when they were caught they were sentenced to 3 months of hard labor on a farm. After serving his sentence he was allowed to stay in New Zealand. Nana and Pop got married on 26th November 1954 in Timaru. Pop was 21 and nana was 17. They had 6 kids and my grandma was their 2nd child. they lived in Timaru for a few years and then moved to Christchurch.

Pop worked at telecom for more than 40 years. When Pop lived in Timaru he played reprepresentive football (soccer) and he got a picture of his face on the newspaper being known as the captain of a successful team. Pop retired in 1997 so Pop and nana moved to Sydney to Mary Quinn my grandma's sister in 2001. Where they helped her renovate her Sydney house.

On 10th of September 2017 age 84 in Cessnock NSW Australia. I wish I got to meet my pop. He sounded like a good man and my grandma and my mum still miss him a lot.