Neil KEENAN Obituary

On behalf of the Fairlie Mackenzie Heritage Museum we would like to acknowledge the life of Neil Keenan, whose generosity has meant that he has bequeathed substantial funds to a number of Fairlie organisations. The Fairlie Mackenzie Heritage Museum being one of them. He was a very kind hearted and generous man who will be sadly missed. Our condolences to the family.

Our Forest and Bird members are extremely grateful to Neil for his generous gift to our branch. It will make a world of difference to the environment through our plant and animal pest projects, and especially our efforts to save the critically endangered bittern/matuku hurepo, from extinction. We would like to speak with any of his family and friends to know more about him. We can be contacted by phone (073077108) or email
[email protected]

It was with very much sadness that we learnt of Neil's death today. His loving cousin Margaret Day , nee Keenan, rang us from Sydney to relate this sad happening.
We always enjoyed our ' catch ups' with Neil. The last being in Whakatane at his beach house overlooking the sea. We shared a lovely chowder from a nearby cafe that had become Neil's regular.
It is poignant to recall ,he proudly showing us photographs he had hung on his walls of his much loved parents, his sister and brothers.
We will remember him with love in our prayers. He went too soon as he was enjoying his life amongst his many friends , both here and in Australia. The stories of Cairns' cane toads crawling 'en masse' across the roads____alas no more...