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PDG Elva Patricia (Trish) O'Reilly passed away Thursday 5 September. Her funeral is Tuesday 10th September at the St Anthony’s Catholic Church, Great South Road, Huntly at 11 am, followed by interment at Kimihia Lawn Cemetery. Messages can be sent to O’Reilly family P O Box 160, Huntly 3740.
Trish joined the Huntly Rotary Club in 1994 and a few years later her husband Terry also joined. They were both busy people back in those days. They ran the dairy farm and owned one of the few private coal mines in NZ. Both were hard-working folk, always hospitable and well respected in the local community.
Trish later joined the NZ Coal Board as the only female Board member, and boy, did they get a shock. They were not used to the way she wanted business done and there was considerable dissension until the other members finally saw the light. That was a long battle bravely fought over many years.
From a background working as a credit clerk for the old DIC company in Hamilton after leaving school, Trish worked her way up through the ranks and managed the finances of the company.
She married Terry and then children took up most of her spare time.
In 1995, the financial lessons learned were quickly put to work, organising the Huntly Club funding for community projects and the club finances in general. As time went on, she became a capable club administrator for the Huntly Rotary projects, and later, District and International projects, including the Rotary Foundation.
The considerable achievements that Trish gained through her Rotary experience are quite remarkable really.
Huntly Club member 94 through to 2010.
Club Secretary 95 – 1996
District Membership Attraction and Engagement committee member 98 – 99
Huntly Club President 99 – 2000.
District 9930 District Area 1 Assistant Governor 2000 – 2003. Trish was responsible for liaising with 10 clubs. (That year District 9930 had 55 clubs and nearly 2500 members.)
District Governor Nominee 2001-2002
District 9930 Group Study Exchange Sub Committee Chair 2002 – 2003
District 9930 Governor-Elect 2002 – 2003
IN 2004 Trish joined the then Rotary Overseas Medical Aid for Children Board (known as ROMAC in the day) as the NZ Regional Representative and continued to support the organisation for the rest of her Rotary life. She received highest ROMAC Award for her Service in 2018.
District 9930 Governor 2003 -2004 - the first female District Governor. A real milestone in a largely male-dominated organisation at that time.
District 9930 Rotary International Promotion Chair 2004-2005
District 9930 Conference Presidential Representative 2006
Regional Rotary Membership Co-Ordinator 2006 – 2007.
District 9930 MAP Source Site Access facilitator 2008 – 2009
District 9930 Council on Legislation Representative Alternate 2009 – 2010
District 9930 Permanent Fund sub Committee Chair 2010
Huntly Club Secretary 2010 .
Joined Te Rapa Club as a member on 12.5.2011
Te Rapa Club Honorary member2014 – 2015 until that club was terminated.
Frankton – Te Rapa Club Honorary member 2017 until the day she died (5.9.2019.)
This represents over 25 years faithful service to Rotary at the club, District, Regional and International levels. Quite remarkable when one considers her early working life as an accounts girl at DIC in Hamilton, and her early childhood days living in Huntly.
Her Rotary service has been rewarded with the Paul Harris Fellow Award for Community service in 25.3.03, with several further Awards for her services, a Paul Harris Fellow Award, level 1, on 30.6.2008, a Rotary Foundation Major Donor Level 2, on 29.11.2006 and a Benefactor Award from the Rotary Foundation.
Trish attended the International Conferences in 2005 and 2006 in Salt Lake City.
Trish was a woman who did not suffer fools gladly. You crossed her at your own peril. Her Irish roots enabled her to fight her battles with positive outcomes for what she believed in.
She was deeply committed to her family, their business as coal mine operators, and dairy farmers. Her Rotary responsibilities were ever-present, and she loved people who worked hard, were generous with their time and effort, people who made a difference in other people’s lives.
To sum her up as a person she was a loving wife, mother, and grandmother, kind, fearlessly protective for whatever she held dear, very capable and dependable, a hard worker, whether on the farm, in the office, or discussing world affairs in the many Rotary committees she belonged to.
Trish was consistent in her values, generous to a fault, a formidable foe (the Coal Board knows this trait only too well), she valued her Catholic faith, a great mentor and, most of all, a good, true friend to many.
Her health was a problem in later life, but she was not always like that, and we should remember her for what she was to each of us.
We will miss her friendly welcome, her personality and her kind and generous spirit. Trish was a big lady, but she had big dreams, a lot of compassion and understanding far beyond her physical presence.
Trish will be sadly missed by those that cared for her, and those that worked with and for her.
There are many, many, people out there in the world who did not meet Trish but had some benefit from her connection with Rotary.
The Rotary motto, “Service before Self” could never be more appropriate.
Rest in Peace.