Guy Spurr
M.Ed. Hons(First Class) Dip.T.
1959-2008
Education Officer, Newmont Waihi Gold
Guy started work as Education Officer at Newmont on 26 October 2004. He loved his job. He often said it was the best job in the world, and that he was sometimes surprised that he got paid for doing something he enjoyed so much.
It showed.
There was no one on site more enthusiastic than Guy.
Each day he would greet each school group as if they were long-lost friends, tell them the story of gold as if they were the first group he had talked to, and respond to their comments as if it was the first time he had ever heard that particular statement made.
Guy was a first-class teacher. He was equally at home with five year-olds and postgraduate students, and was quickly able to develop an easy-going rapport with students and teachers.
A steady increase in student numbers through the Education Centre, new schools arriving in addition to the regular visitors, and the complimentary comments recorded on the end-of-session evaluations are a testament to his skill and dedication.
In many ways, Guy's job at the mine was the ideal combination of his interests and experiences.
For starters, mining was in his blood. His father, Dick worked at Martha, and his grandfather was a miner too. Add to that Guy's life-long passion for anything to do with big machinery. Mix with his innate teaching skills and his ability to relate to people from all walks of life and it is easy to see why Guy lived his job.
He didn't live for his job though. When work was out of the way he would be on the road taking photos of trucks and machinery. Who else would go on holiday to the middle of the Australian desert and stand by the side of the road for six hours waiting to take a photo of one truck? Even if it was a Mack 525hp triple trailer side tipper road train? Guy was first to admit 'There's only a fine line between a hobby and a mental illness'.
"We'll miss him. That easy-going smile and twinkle in the eye. The can-do attitude.
The energy and enthusiasm. The easy ability..."
Each holiday Guy would send us a postcard as soon as he arrived at some remote location. It would often be delivered after he had returned to work. We got cards from the forests of British Columbia and the deserts of Australia, not that you would know, as the picture was almost always a truck. His knowledge of trucks and trucking was legendary. He knew not just the trucks, but the people too. And he knew them as friends. He knew the history and the geography and the sociology of the industry. He could tell the whakapapa of a business through the genealogy of the trucks they owned, and weave it into an interesting story.
In fact he knew lots about lots, but never flashed his knowledge around just to impress. He was like that.
Guy was also vitally involved in the company's Oral History Project and in educating staff about bicultural issues through the Te Oneora programme that he helped initiate, then modified and redeveloped. He had also trained to be an internal auditor.
We'll miss him. That easy-going smile and twinkle in the eye. The can-do attitude. The energy and enthusiasm. The easy ability. The braided hair tied with a greenstone taonga. The never-ending parade of large shiny belt buckles.
Guy has left a lot to remember him by. Who else would leave behind a bright yellow 777 Cat mine truck as part of their legacy?
