L.S. Mackie Memorial Gates (1955)

These gates are located at the entrance to the Otakeho Cemetery and feature a memorial plaque to Leslie S Mackie.

White marble plaque inscribed -

To The Memory

of

A Respected

Otakeho

Citizen

L.S. Mackie

The gates were presented by former Otakeho residents, William and Jane Corkill in May 1955 as a memorial to Leslie Mackie. He married Violet Mary Hone (1888-1968) of Pātea  in 1907.

Leslie Stuart Mackie (1884 - 1943) was manager of the T L Joll Co-operative's Otakeho dairy factory, a well-respected naturalist and dedicated wood-carver.

His Māori-styled decorated bed-ends, reported to have taken 1200 hours to produce, were exhibited in the United Kingdom's Wembley Exhibition in 1924. The carved bed was gifted to the Taranaki Museum in 1961 by Mackie's wife Violet and was put on display in 1964. (Taranaki Herald 18 December 1964)

He also carved a model waka which took 700 hours to produce. Puke Ariki also holds a waka huia carved by Mackie in 1914. 

Mackie was also secretary of the Otakeho school committee, the cemetery board and the Anglican church. 

The memorial gates featured in Kelvin Day's Taranaki Daily News series "Of passing interest" on 30 August 2010.