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Christ’s College
- 2014 In Memoriam
4585
Aged 94
Peter
Vaughan Jenkins
Peter Vaughan Jenkins was born 4 July 1921 in
London, the eldest child of third generation New
Zealand parents. The family returned to New
Zealand in early 1922. He attended High Street
School in Dunedin, John McGlashan College and
then Christ’s College where he was in Jacobs
house from 1936 to 1939.
Peter passed his medical preliminary
examination and went to university omitting
his final year at school. He met his future wife,
Pauline Barker of Four Peaks, Geraldine at
Otago University. In November 1944 Peter went
to a student house surgeon job at Wellington
Hospital. At the end of 1948 the family moved to
Blenheim where Peter eventually set up his own
medical practice and was the anaesthetist at
the Wairau Hospital from 1951 until 1986. Peter
also did a lot of private anaesthetic work. All
this meant very long days often leaving home at
7.30am and not finishing in the surgery till after
9.00pm as well as delivering babies during the
night.
Peter was the Marlborough division of the British
Medical Association’s first secretary and he
held office in various capacities for the rest of
his practice life. He was a member of the Royal
New Zealand College of General Practice. His
work for it and for Medicine in Marlborough led
to his being made a Fellow in 1975, the first one
in Marlborough. Peter was a member of Junior
Chamber of Commerce in the 1950’s and served
on the committee of the Blenheim Club for a
number of years.
Peter always maintained a large garden, and
became an adept carpenter when he enlarged
the bach at Lake Rotoiti. He was a competent
fly fisherman and all the family enjoyed fishing,
shooting, tramping, boating and skiing. Peter
served for a number of years on the local
acclimatization society. Peter took an increasing
interest in photography, developing and enlarging
his own efforts and as the years passed, painting
gradually supplanted photography. He was an
active member of the Marlborough Art Society
from its inception, and in 2003 he was made a
life member. He attended art groups regularly
producing hundreds of pictures and a little
pottery.
In 1986 when Peter retired from General Practice
he and Pauline toured Europe in a campervan
for 18 months. He painted, visited areas where
ancestors came from and researched many
archives. Peter read a lot and attempted to get
through the thousands of books on Canterbury,
Marlborough, Nelson and general New Zealand
history that they accumulated.
In May 1998 Pauline became unwell and Peter
looked after her until her death in 2000. He
continued to cook for himself, play competitive
bridge and croquet, and attend art groups until
the day before he went into hospital in July 2015.
He died on 15 September 2015 and is survived
by his children Pam, James and Richard, nine
grandsons and three great grandsons.