This biography shares the untold stories of my Great Grandad, Thomas Pearcey and his eventful life.

Great Grandad was born in England during the First World War which was probably pretty crazy because all the people you know just don't come back from war and see all the planes and bombers and think that you might die that day. When the war ended the Spanish Flu was making its way through England and other parts of the world. It killed a lot of people and my Great Grandad was very lucky that he did not catch it. At school he probably got a ton of spankings because they wore definitely still gave spankings in 1920.

When World War Two started, Great Grandad was a plane technician and used his expertise to serve in the war for England, Canada, the UK and New Zealand. His role was to look at broken and damaged planes and bring them back to working order. Through this responsibility he supported and saved many of his fellow men. Even thou he loved being a plane tension it probably wasn't nice because a lot of people you know just dont come back from war and that is sometimes very concerning.

A little bit after the war my Great Grandad welcomed the birth of a son, now my Grandpa. When my Grandpa was a little bit older my Great Grandad took him in his delivery truck and always drove way over the speed limit to deliver meat to the local Bucher.

Great Grandad moved to New Zealand with his wife and son in the late 1940s from England. By this time my Grandpa was 12 and he got a part time job lawn mowing in order to make his own money. His first purchase was a push bike so he could get around more freely. Great Grandad was a caterer and catered for big gatherings. When he retired he moved to Tauranga with Great Gran and they played a lot of bowls together. Great Gran was always known to be the best at bowls until she got dementia and had to move into a rest home. At this stage it meant that Great Grandad had to live by himself but he always visited her, at least three times a week. Sadly, she passed away from blood cancer at the age of 94. Great Gran lived a long life filled with happiness.

It was really sad when Great Grandad passed away as he had been such a big part of our life. He was such an amazing man, even playing bowls right up until the day before he passed away. Many of the members of his bowls club attend his funeral to pay their respects. He lived to 103 years of age and when he passed away we were all shocked. In some ways it was hard to believe as it felt like he would just live forever.

I still miss him so very much but I know he is still with us every day.