User:Magiciseverywhere/sandbox

Trevor’s grandfather, Leon de Cleene, had been a Roman Catholic priest until he was confronted with the enormous theological question of whether Roman Catholic priests has to choose a life of celibacy in order to serve God. This question transformed into an enormous personal battle which finally found peace when he discovered that the true path ahead to being with God was not blocked by the love of a women, but advanced by it. The path ahead was not to deny the love of a woman, but to embrace it! He went on to marry Annie Corley from England, but so momentous was his discovery and decision that they had to begin a whole new life together and did so by emigrating to the other side of the world: New Zealand. Trevor would say when describing this story and his own personal atheistic beliefs, “Thank God he chose women otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

Leon and Annie de Cleene settled in Tiakitahuna, just outside Palmerston North. They would have eight children: Louisa 1879, Ernestine (Tine) 1894 – 1983, William (Bill) 1896 – 1974, Annie (Doll) 1897 – 1974, Jules 1899 – 1990, John (Jack) 1900 – 1995, Daisy 1903 – 1996, Albert (Bert) 1907 – 1991, and Mary 1914 – 1995.

Bill de Cleene, at the age of 20, voluntered for the army and joined the New Zealand Rifle Brigade in May 1916. Bill was wounded and hospitalised twice in 1917. The second time he was grievously wounded by shell fire near the town of Ypres, Belgium. His army days were over and in October 1918, he was discharged from the army on a war pension with his discharge notice giving the reason “No longer physically fit for war service on account of wounds received in action”. In his later memoirs Trevor would write, "Pop slept with a loaded rifle beside his bed to repel possible dawn assaults. I think that it has always been difficult for those who have not suffered in the horrors of war to appreciate the influence it had on those who survived it. Pop only rarely spoke of his experiences but such was his shellshock he became drunk on little alcohol. A few beers and he was away. His body had holes where the shrapnel had gone in and much of it stayed there.”

After being discharged from the army on a war pension, Bill married Mary McDonald in May 1919. Mary McDonald was a daughter among five others of an intolerant Orangeman and Presbyterian. At the age of 14 she had left home with little formal education to work in a funeral parlour washing and laying out the bodies. Her life was one of constant domestic work both in her own home and for doctors, lawyers and other people better off in life. Bill and Mary had four children: Leo 1909, Doreen, Dulcie and Trevor 1933 - 2001.

Bill and Mary suffered in the Great Depression. They had owned a house in St John’s Avenue, Palmerston North, where Trevor was born, but the mortgage payments could not be met from the war pension and the house went. Thereafter was a succession of rented houses. Bill, with his war wages from the army, when he was wounded back in London had with pride bought Mary a four diamond engagement ring. Later, and unknown to him, she sold the diamonds, replacing them with glass and spent the money raising the kids! Such was Bill’s shellshock that he spent much of his time drunk at the Albert pub. Trevor’s middle name of Albert was in dedication to Bill’s "best friend". Although a carpenter by trade he was unable to hold down any steady job for the rest of his life due to his psychological and physical wounds and so it was Mary who was the strict disciplinarian responsible for being the main bread winner and holding the family together. Trevor’s fond recollection was that his mother, Mary, was a great mother who cared deeply for her family. No money in the home but always bread and lard, dumplings, beef tea - always something when Trevor arrived home from school. The house was always clean to the point of perfection. The bed had flannelette sheets and a hot water bottle in winter. Looking back on it, Trevor would admit the love and care was always there but not displayed by open acts. This was the general attitude in society at the time.

Mary would emphasise to her children that education was the path out of poverty and the working class, however none could afford a higher education until the Labour government implemented the welfare state in 1938. This meant that only Trevor had access to university and as the result was the only one who was able to break free of the working class in the family.

Bill worked for some time in 1938-39 for a building contractor in Palmerston North named HE Townsend Ltd. This contractor obtained a contract with the New Zealand Labour government of 1935-38 to build state houses in the West End area of Palmerston North. The development was then, and still is, a model of Labour Party success in the provision of government housing for its working class voters. The ¼ acre paradise saw the houses separately designed, meticulously built of heart rimu, brick, tile roofs, copper spouting and the best of materials generally. There was a tool shed to keep the hand mower and garden tools in. The backyard was more than sufficient to grow a substantial vegetable garden, with room left over for the kids to play in. There were no garages attached to the houses. There was no need because the working class had no cars. There were two blocks of about 14 garages each provided in central area in the development of the 300 or so houses.

Finally, the family had a safe and secure home to live in in when they got a state house at 3 Mansford Place, Palmerston North, in 1939. It was three bedroomed with rent £1.7s.6d. per week, being about one third of the week’s wages. A few civil servants or upper working class may have had a Morris 8, or Austin 7, or later a Ford Prefect, but the pushbike was king. They would often hire a tent, catch the Madge Motors bus and throw the bike on to go on a camping holiday at Foxton Beach. The bike would then act as the truck to carry everything on the handlebars from the bus depot at Foxton down to the beach campsite.

The family didn’t have a lot of money, but they had a lot of wonderful times together. Because Mary went out to work Bill was a cook, housekeeper and babysitter. He taught Trevor how to fish in the Manawatu River with a hand line and shrimps to catch eels and trout. He showed Trevor how to trap duck with a rat trap. He would put Trevor on the back of his bike and took him to the pub where he would sit on the bar and drink raspberry lemonade while “Pop” drank beer with his mates. “Don’t tell your mother” he would emphasise. But Mary would be a pointer at sniffing him out and bringing him back home.

Being born in the Great Depression to working class parents de Cleene always held a deep loyalty to the working class and in the belief in the equality of all mankind. Every form of inequality he saw as an injustice.

Early on, de Cleene displayed flair with words. He was also known to hold very strong personal opinions and a desire to communicate these to whoever would listen. He was a strong individualist with divergent personal views and fearless in the presence of authority. He enjoyed sport, particularly hockey and squash. He played hockey for Canterbury University, then Victoria University and finally Manawatu. He was an A grade squash champion who also represented the Manawatu aganst Great Britain. But his great love was the outdoors – hunting and fishing.

While New Zealand was founded upon Christian values and beliefs, Trevor was an atheist in his beliefs. A core part of these were because he strongly believed in the equality of mankind and that the Christian Church didn’t practise the same level of belief in equality as he did.

In 1962, Trevor de Cleene married Gwenda Doris Taylor. They would have three children: Catherine 1964, David 1966, and William 1970. By his own acknowledgement Trevor wasn’t a family man and subsequently he and Gwenda separated and divorced. In 1982, Trevor remarried Raewyn Watt.