Neighbours, Ernest, Allan and Yvonne

Ernest (Ernie) Rex Neighbours was born in the small Buller settlement of Waimangaroa on 3 June 1922. He was the son of Florence (Florrie) Ada (nee Quinton) (1893-1979) and Norman (Tom) Leslie Neighbours (1888-1958). 

Tom Neighbours worked in the family brick works in the settlement, but he also owned a drapery store and at times took up gold prospecting and water divining, as well as being a trombonist for the Waimangaroa Brass Band. Florence was an accomplished singer and toured the district entertaining as part of the group, ‘The Sunshine Party’.

Ernest had two siblings, an older sister Yvonne Florence (1920-1998) and a younger brother Allan Gregory (1924-1959).

The family moved north to Mōkau in the 1940s, where Tom and Florence ran the Mōkau General Store and then built and operated the Seaside Tearooms between Mōkau and Awakino.

Ernest enlisted with the RNZAF during World War Two and was sent for training at the No.2 Air Observer School in Edmonton, Alberta in 1944. He later served as a gunner. Allan was called up for service as a 20-year-old in May 1945, so may not have seen active service.

On 15 August 1949 Ernest married Betty Dorothy Kjestrup and by 1954 the couple were living in Hamilton where Ernest worked as an Engineer. They later moved to Tauranga. 

Yvonne Neighbours married Maurice James Collins at St Mary's Church, New Plymouth on 27 October 1945.

When Ernest's parents retired they moved to Auckland where they had a seven-acre farmlet in Glenfield called ‘The Little Green Valley’. Tom died in 1958 and Florrie moved back to New Plymouth where she lived with her daughter Yvonne. She died in 1979.

Ernest died on 2 October 2001 in Tauranga, aged 79. His wife Betty had died eight years earlier in 1993.

Documents

Neighbours family history, contributed to Puke Ariki public family files, source unknown