OBITUARY
Alan John O’Brien 23 March 1961 - 26 May 2021 It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the sudden passing of Alan O’Brien. Alan’s interest in property started very early with a timber trainee cadetship with Manukau Timber which led to building with Universal Homes and then Sales Manager for Reid Construction. Not to be limited to property construction, Alan included another interest of his and was part of the Yacht Building and Services team, building custom yachts for the international market and working on KZ7 (“Kiwi Magic”). Alan O’Brien started his career in real estate in 1990 with Ray White in Henderson, West Auckland. After 16 years it was time for a lifestyle change and a move to the Bay of Islands in 2016 with his young, growing family. Alan started with Harcourts in Kerikeri that same year as Bay of Islands Realty Limited’s Group Sales Manager. During his time in real estate Alan was an experienced auctioneer, award winning commercial sales and business broker and residential salesperson teaming with his wife Nikki for the past two years. The move to Kerikeri allowed Alan to find balance between real estate, family, a passion for fishing and classic American cars especially V8 muscle cars, having re-built three. Alan was a loving husband and father of his five wonderful children. He will be greatly missed.
Dorothy Eileen Westerman Dorothy Eileen Westerman, was the second eldest child of a large family of 11 kids. Following her early nursing years, Dorothy met Paul Westerman in Hastings, where they were married in 1949. The newly weds moved to Taupo that year where they cleared an overgrown section on the corner of Kiwi and Tui Streets and set about building their first home. Taupo is where the Westerman family would raise their nine children and where Dorothy got her first taste in Real Estate, where she cleared another section they purchased in the back end of town and sold it for three times the price, thus sowing her real estate seed. Dorothy had a sense the town of Taupo was on the cusp of a boom and set about her real estate career that was initially fraught with road blocks in a male-dominated industry. Having been denied her licence at the first attempt through opposition from her competitors, Dorothy took the matter to court where the magistrate overturned that decision, thus making her one of the very first females in New Zealand to be a licensed agent. And so the mother of nine set off on what was to be thousands of real estate transactions over the next four decades. An extremely driven woman, as well as raising nine children and creating a successful business, Dorothy was also a Taupo District Councillor for 21 years, helping to shape the prosperous town it is today. Along the way, she also gained her private pilot licence, attained School Certificate in Te Reo Maori and completed a significant subdivision in Acacia Bay, Taupo. She was a hugely dedicated mum, grandmother, great grandmother and great, great grandmother. Her legacy lives on in the landmark building she built in Taupo’s CBD where her daughter Yvonne Westerman and the next generation of real estate agents in the Westerman family continue the successful business she forged many years ago. Continued over leaf
SPRING 2021
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