The irony of the closing [sale] of the Howick RSA is that Sir Donald Petrie Simson K.B.E., O.B.E, who was the main force behind the formation and establishment of the New Zealand Returned Solders’ Association, is buried in Howick.
He was elected first president on April 29, 1916. He and the RSA held the first Anzac Day in 1916.
Sir Donald, who served with the New Zealand Engineers at Gallipoli, was buried at Our Lady Star of the Sea following his death in 1961.
Father Terry Montgomery
Howick
