Joseph Gee

Joseph Gee 朱仲明 Gee Wong Tong village 朱黄塘村^[1]

8 December 1931 – 3 December 2020

Joseph Gee or Joe as he was known as, was born in China on the 8 December 1931, the sixth child of 9 siblings.

In 1938, the family – a party of 22 people including grandmother and a very pregnant mother - fled from the Japanese invasion of Guangdong.

Grandfather carried a gun and the teenage daughters carried a case of money.

Joe got sick during this time from some epidemic that was going around and nearly lost his life.

The family arrived in New Zealand in 1939 and settled in Masterton where they opened a fruit shop called Gee Dong and Sons. With such a large family, it was a battle to survive, with no furniture but boards for beds, fruit cases for seats and living off the scraps like fish heads at the back of their shop.

As they settled down, other family members joined them and there was hunting/ shooting rabbits and pukeko and gradually integrating into the New Zealand way of life. Every Labour weekend, the family would get together to celebrate the parent‘s combined birthdays.

In 1946, Joe‘s father had gone back to China to revive his business and in 1948, Joe‘s grandmother together with the five youngest children, went back to join him but returned in 1949 to escape the Communists.

At around 1949, Joe got involved with the Wairarapa Chinese youth to participate in the annual sports tournament in which he played basketball and soccer and socialising.

Joe started to manage the family business in 1953 as well as helping his mother run a gift shop two doors away. It was a very busy time for him as he had to travel to Wellington twice a week to get fresh supplies.

In 1959, Joe met Mary Mak and they got married in the Masterton Town Hall where 600 guests attended.

Joe‘s parents returned to China in 1964 and Joe with his brother Peter, ran the business as well as a 10 acre farm which the family had bought.

Mary and Joe moved to Wellington in 1965 with their family of three – Vivienne, Stephen and Carina.

Joe settled in Wellington but did not go back into business. He became a taxi driver for some time and joined with his older brother Norman into a service station business in Kilbirnie. Joe and Mary also had a paper run for many years and when they gave that up, Joe had a variety of jobs. He worked for Phillips Electrical, Honda Cars, Robert Harris Coffee and the Ministry of Education and others until his retirement.

He was also involved with the Mangaroa Forestry Company for many years.

Joe and Mary bought a home on Seatoun Heights where the family lived for many years but on 27 August 2011, Mary suddenly passed away. Joe stayed on until he became unwell and needed personal care and has lived at the Vincentian Home in Berhampore since 2014.

Joe is survived by his three children Vivienne, Stephen and Carina and their respective families.